After back-to-back defeats, Dunfermline stopped their slide with a well-deserved draw away to Airdrie on Saturday.
It could have been all three points had they managed to hang on to the lead given to them by Chris Kane’s 28th-minute penalty.
However, a Mason Hancock header midway through the second-half left the Pars ‘devastated’ at not leaving with the victory.
Courier Sport looks at three of the main talking points raised by the trip to Lanarkshire.
Crucial spell
The clash with Airdrie was the first of what appears to be a vital run of games for the Pars
The Diamonds may be bottom of the Championship and are not the force they were last season, but they are still a decent team.
Defeat would have seen Dunfermline slip into the automatic relegation spot. Although it is extremely early days, that is a position no-one wants to occupy.
The next challenge for the Fifers is the visit of their near neighbours Kelty Hearts in the SPFL Trust Trophy next weekend.
With the Central Park outfit sitting top of League One and buoyed by a 5-1 hammering of Queen of the South on Saturday, that looks like a potential banana skin.
After that, it is a home clash with Morton – who proved their doughty credentials with a 2-0 win against Raith Rovers.
And then there is the small matter of the renewal of rivalries with high-flying Falkirk.
Manager James McPake was right to say there were positives from the draw with Airdrie and ‘something to build on’.
But he will know that further improvements will be required to navigate an important spell for him and his team.
Resolute rearguard
McPake confessed after the previous week’s 2-1 defeat to Queen’s Park that he had got his team wrong.
For the most part, he appeared to get things right against Airdrie.
With assistant Dave Mackay trying to throw the Diamonds off the scent by warming up a back five, Dunfermline lined up with a rejigged four.
Central to that was Chris Hamilton, who again showed his versatility by playing centre-half, alongside Tommy Fogarty.
What the former Hearts youngster gives away in height, he makes up for in determination and he turned in a ‘captain’s performance’ to help keep Airdrie at bay for most of the game.
With Kieran Ngwenya still recovering from a minor groin ‘procedure’, Ewan Otoo filled in at left-back once more and added to the solidity.
The midfield duo are able to move back more easily now that Craig Clay has been recruited as a ‘sitter’ at the heart of the team.
And the imminent return of Ngwenya and skipper Kyle Benedictus will give McPake selections dilemmas all over the pitch.
Having lost two poor goals to Queen’s Park from set-pieces, the Pars coped admirably with a physical Airdrie side, but could not keep the clean sheet that would have earned all three points.
Vital spark
The trip to Airdrie saw goal-scorer Chris Kane and Craig Wighton start a game together for the first time for Dunfermline.
It was just a third start of the season for Wighton and, due to injury, a third start in eight months.
And it was a partnership that showed promise as the duo chased and harried Airdrie as they attempted to play from the back.
The ‘press’ won possession back for the Pars on many occasions in the first-half and led to the penalty award when Wighton’s fantastic through ball picked out the run of Aaron Comrie, who was clattered by home keeper Murray Johnson.
With Kane Ritchie-Hosler and Matty Todd supporting from the flanks, the Fifers carried more threat than at times previously this season.
With debutant Dapo Mebude, Josh Cooper, David Wotherspoon and Taylor Sutherland all coming off the bench with attacking intent, and Lewis McCann absent with a calf injury, Dunfermline now have the striking options they sorely lacked earlier in the campaign.
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