There were wild celebrations at a packed KDM Group East End Park as Dunfermline took a huge step towards the League One title.
Second-half goals from Rhys Breen and Matty Todd gave the Pars a 2-0 win after a solid first-half performance that Falkirk edged.
With a trip to Peterhead up this weekend before the Bairns play again, James McPake’s side will have the chance to add to their eight-point lead.
⚽ Dunfermline v Falkirk
🏆Scottish League One
📍East End Park pic.twitter.com/TuY5wpdb8U— Craig Cairns (@craigcairns001) March 7, 2023
Courier Sport takes a look at the talking points from a significant night in the League One title race.
Build-up
There were fans from both ends heeding the club’s warning and turning up early – many queuing before the turnstiles opened and both were making noise well before kick-off.
Player of the month for February Kyle Benedictus led the Pars side out to the noise of 9,530 fans.
The teams are out 🔊 pic.twitter.com/cp4iayowau
— Craig Cairns (@craigcairns001) March 7, 2023
There was a slight delay to the kick-off – and after the opening goal – due to a flare and a smoke bomb thrown onto the pitch from the home end but it let an already brimming atmosphere bubble a little more.
Lineup as expected
Aaron Comrie was the only absentee but there was good news on Monday that his injury from Saturday’s win over Alloa will only keep him out for 10 days.
McPake lined up as expected, bringing in Kyle Macdonald at right-back and replacing Ewan Otoo with the returning Josh Edwards at left-back.
The Pars set up essentially in a 4-4-1-1, wary of the threat Falkirk pose down the sides.
The visitors had the better of the first half and threatened first when Gary Oliver headed a cross from the right straight at Deniz Mehmet.
Oliver failed to connect well enough with another near-post effort and later in the former Par Kai Kennedy shot wide after cutting in from the right.
Kane Ritchie-Hosler
Dunfermline’s half was sparked into life when Kane Ritchie-Hosler skipped past an opponent, as he had repeatedly in the win over Alloa.
The home side then enjoyed their best spell of the half but were unable to work Bairns keeper Brian Kinnear.
Ritchie-Hosler proved his worth at the other end later in the half when he took the ball off the toes of Leon McCann as he prepared to shoot following another cross from the right.
Right on half-time, and pretty much out of nowhere, Chris Mochrie spun and had a go from range and watched as his shot skited off the surface and back off the post.
Matty Todd
Ritchie-Hosler passed the mantle over to Todd for the second half.
The Pars signalled their intent from the off, with Benedictus firing over the bar after a corner.
Ritchie-Hosler then slipped in Todd, quiet until this point, and he forced a great one-handed save from Kinnear.
Kevin O’Hara replaced Chris Mochrie on the hour and it meant Todd moving to the centre.
Later, the tireless midfielder left St Johnstone loanee Max Kucheriavyi for dead, before cutting inside and forcing another good save out of Kinnear.
From the resulting corner the Pars were ahead when Breen’s header eventually made its way over the line.
The Pars fans celebrate the opener 🏁 pic.twitter.com/HrIbRsKfcf
— Craig Cairns (@craigcairns001) March 7, 2023
Soon after Todd was again at the centre of things when he drove through the middle and laid it off to Craig Wighton, who shot agonisingly wide.
Todd was then in the right place at the right time to get on the end of the Falkirk keepers’ deflected clearance and make it 2-0 and win the game for the Pars.
Where it leaves the title race
Even a draw would have left Falkirk with an uphill battle but a defeat all but signals the end of their title race.
They have the chance to reach Hampden when they take on Ayr United in the Scottish Cup quarter-final on Monday, giving Dunfermline the chance to increase the now eight-points lead to 11 by the time Falkirk play another League One match.
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