James McPake’s side dropped points in a frustrating afternoon for Dunfermline at the ZLX Stadium.
Right from the start there was something off about their performance and Clyde took advantage through Martin Rennie.
The former Montrose forward got a toe on to Erik Sula’s shot through a pack of bodies following a corner to give Clyde an early lead.
Josh Edwards equalised six minutes before half-time but failed to capitalise on constant second-half pressure.
Courier Sport looks at some of the talking points after the Pars allowed their rivals to narrow the gap at the top of League One.
One of those days
Dropping points to the side bottom of the league is not great and it may look worse coming off the back of two cup exits.
If you look at their League One results in isolation it is the first time the Pars have dropped points in four matches.
You have to go back to October for their only league defeat of the season so far.
On Saturday they were sloppy in possession and wasteful in front of goal and “could have played all night” and not found a winner.
🎥 Watch the goals from yesterday's 1-1 draw with Clyde.
Full Highlights Later! 🏁 pic.twitter.com/rOSZEKjFwg
— Dunfermline Athletic (@officialdafc) January 29, 2023
Getting back to winning ways versus Montrose and Airdrie will mean this result will be seen as a minor blip.
Falkirk narrow the gap
Falkirk’s victory at Edinburgh leaves the Bairns as the main threat to Dunfermline’s title charge.
The capital side have lost their last three and are now eight points off the Pars having played two more matches – they also had their three Hibernian loanees recalled.
One of Dunfermline’s games in hand is versus Falkirk, a match which still hasn’t been rescheduled.
Their other outstanding fixture versus Airdrie has been rearranged for next month but with Falkirk still in the Scottish Cup that one is still to be pencilled in.
Life without Fisher
This was the first league match since defender Sam Fisher was recalled by Dundee.
There is a chance he will return to East End Park by the end of February, though a nasty injury to Tyler French hasn’t helped, and will depend on the business Dundee do over the next few days.
Fisher is a solid defender, powerful in the air in both boxes and able to step out with the ball – all things Dunfermline could have done with versus Clyde.
As mentioned above, hopefully this is just one of those days for the Pars and not something larger to worry about.
Kyle Benedictus, Aaron Comrie and Rhys Breen have all been excellent this season and are more than capable as a back three.
After switching between a back four and a back three at the start of the season, McPake has settled recently on a three-man defence.
It will be interesting to see if the Pars boss switches back for Montrose next weekend.
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