| |
| The Under 21 team record their first
goal and win of the season against Hearts at Forthbank Stadium. Anthony
Storie with a penalty and Ian Campbell are the scorers. |
| Goalkeeper Derek Stillie is drafted into
the Scotland squad after Cardiff City goalie Neil Alexander opts to remain at home with
his pregnant wife. |
| Stevie
Crawford plays 76 minutes of Scotland's 3-1 win against the Faroes Isles.
Having picked up a needless booking for playing on after the whistle, the
striker misses out on the national team's vital Euro 2004 Qualifier away
to Germany (Scotland lost 2-1). |
| For the second season in a row, the
second round of the CIS League Cup pairs Dunfermline and Cowdenbeath
together. The match will be played on 24th September at East End
Park. |
|
Most of the players released at the end of last month have now found new
teams. Jason Dair signed for Motherwell, with Steven Hampshire and Kevin McLeish
both at Brechin. Scott Walker is training at Falkirk.
|
| Work on laying the artificial surface
gets underway, with a team of specialists flying in from Canada to carry
out the work.
|
| Just ahead of the game, Craig Brewster is
ruled out of the Rangers game as a result of an injured foot. He joins
long term casualties, Scott Thomson, Noel Hunt and Derek Young on the
sidelines. Marco Ruitenbeek also misses out with a hamstring injury.
|
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| Date: |
13th
September 2003 |
Opposition: |
Rangers |
Score (H/T): |
0-4
(0-3) |
| Competition: |
Sc
Premier League |
Venue |
Ibrox Stadium |
Attendance: |
49,072 |
| Scorers: |
[0-1]
Thompson (7), [0-2] Mols (32), [0-3] Arveladze
(43), [0-4] Capucho (66) |
| Yellow Cards: |
Skerla
(DAFC), Capucho (Rangers) |
| Pars Team: |
Stillie; Bullen, Wilson, Skerla, Tod (Labonte 80), Grondin
(Kilgannon 73), Nicholson, Darren Young, Mason, Dempsey (Mehmet 60),
Crawford. Subs not used: SY Thomson, Byrne
|
| Rangers: |
Klos; Ricksen, Emerson, Khizanishvilli, Ball, Nerlinger,
Berg (Vanoli HT), Arteta, Thompson (Capucho 19), Mols, Arveladze (Lovenkrands
66). Subs not used: McGregor, Hughes
|
| Referee: |
C
Richmond |
| Another
disappointing trip to
Ibrox, and another heavy defeat. Although Dunfermline had the better of
the first five minutes, once Thompson scored in seven minutes following a
Skerla mistake, there was only ever going to be one outcome. Mols looked
suspiciously offside when he scored Rangers second, but Lee Bullen later
admitted that he had played the Dutchman on. Arveladze popped home number
three after an Arteta freekick had deceived the Pars defence. Although it
looked like Rangers would run riot in the second half, they only added one
more when Capucho knocked in a Mols cross. Not surprisingly at Ibrox,
Referee Richmond chickened out of booking the already cautioned Capucho
for a blatant dive that would have seen the Portuguese dismissed. |
| |
| |
| Manager Calderwood was left
to lament that it was the same old story for the Pars at Ibrox saying, "you
cannot win anything here if you give goals away. We made it so easy; it
was not as if they were wonder goals." |
| The Pars Under 21 team gains
partial revenge for the defeat at Ibrox when they draw 1-1 with Rangers at
Methil. Pat Clark scores the Athletics' goal just before half time. With
the plastic pitch being installed, this will be the last time that the
Under 21's have to decant to New Bayview for their games. |
| Chairman John Yorkston and
General Manager Jim Leishman travel to Lithuania to discuss a possible tie
up between Kaunus FC and the Pars. |
| Two of the freed players
were fixed up with other clubs this week. Andre Karnebeek signed a two year
deal with Dutch club de Graafschap, and Scott Walker joined Alloa Athletic
on a short term deal until January. |
| At long last the artificial
surface is completed, transforming East End Park. At a press conference to
unveil the pitch, those Dunfermline players called on to
speak give the pitch cautious approval. Later that evening a Press team
took on Radio Forth in the first ever game played on the
surface. |
| Hibernian players are given
the opportunity to train on the new surface ahead of the Saturday's game.
There were some unfavourable comments from some of the players
(particularly Jarkko Wiss), but not from manager Bobby Williamson. |
| There's a further injury blow
for Noel Hunt when he suffers a recurrence of the injury that has kept him
out of action so far this season. Others on the sidelines are regulars,
Scott Thomson and Derek Young plus Marco Ruitenbeek. Nipper is expected to
make his return in the Under 21 game against Hibernian at Easter Road on
Monday. |
| To
mark the opening with of the new pitch, the BBC's 'Off the Ball' programme
broadcasts from Legends. |
| Before the game the opening
ceremony for the new pitch takes place. John Yorkston leads a party that
comprises legends, Ian Rush, Jean-Pierre Papin and Karl-Heinz Riedle, plus
Pars legends Ron Mailer, Alex Edwards and Willie Cuningham. UEFA and SFA
officials are also on hand to help with the balloon release that signified
the opening. |
| |
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| Date: |
20th
August 2003 |
Opposition: |
Hibernian |
Score (H/T): |
0-0
(0-0) |
| Competition: |
Sc
Premier League |
Venue |
East End Park |
Attendance: |
9,715 |
| Scorers: |
None |
| Yellow Cards: |
Mason, Tod
(DAFC), Murdock, Glass (Hibs) |
| Pars Team: |
Stillie; Bullen, Skerla, Wilson (Dempsey
52), Tod, Grondin (KIlgannon HT); Nicholson, Darren Young, Mason;
Crawford, Brewster Subs not used: SY Thomson, Mehmet, Labonte
|
| Hbernian: |
Andersson; Orman, Kouo-Doumbe, Murdock, Edge; Brebner, Wiss,
Glass, Murray; O’Connor (Riordan 79), Brown (Dobbie 80) Subs not
used: Hyldgaard, McManus, Whittaker
|
| Referee: |
M McCurry |
| After all the
hype, the game itself turned out to be a real disappointment. In front
of a larger than average crowd neither team really made much impression,
although the Athletic were probably the better of the two. The best chance
of the first half fell to Brewster who's header clipped the crossbar. The second half wasn't much better,
although the action had to be halted for three minutes after the pitch was
invaded by a male streaker. Once the idiot had been removed, Crawford
found himself with the best chance of the game one on one with the keeper,
but Andersson turned his shot away with his leg. Andy Tod was lucky not to
receive a red card for a last man challenge, after downing Dobbie. This
was a game that DA should have won, and there may be a time later in the
season when the Pars rue the two dropped points. |
|
| |
| Post match, JC was
disappointed with his
team's performance, saying "we had a
great crowd today, that's why I am so annoyed we put in a performance like
that. It was a bit of a carnival day, and we went down like a burst
balloon." |
| The player's reaction to the pitch is
mixed with most preferring to give it more time.
|
| At half time during the Hibs game Ian
Rush, Jean-Pierre Papin and Karl-Heinz Riedle (all wearing Pars shirts)
took place in a penalty shoot-out against three lucky competition
winners.
|
| The Under
21 game against Hibernian is called off due to a waterlogged pitch -
ironic really!
|
| The streaker who disrupted the Hibs game
is fined £100 at Dunfermline Sheriff Court. Chairman John Yorkston hopes
the invader won't result in the club being fined.
|
| Dunfermline are one of five Scottish
clubs listed as being technically insolvent by accountants
PricewaterhouseCoopers. Dundee, Hearts, Hibs and Livingston are the other
four.
|
| Speaking about his trip to Lithuania with
chairman John Yorkston, Jim Leishman said that the intention is to try and
encourage their younger players to come to East End Park as the senior
game in Lithuania is not to the same standard as in Scotland.
|
| Despite press reports saying that Australian Defender/Midfielder Andy
McDermott had signed from Northern Spirit, Jimmy Calderwood stated that no
deal had been done.
|
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| Date: |
24th
September 2003 |
Opposition: |
Cowdenbeath |
Score (H/T): |
2-0
(0-0) |
| Competition: |
CIS
League Cup |
Venue |
East End Park |
Attendance: |
3,582 |
| Scorers: |
[1-0]
Crawford (55), [2-0] Brewster (65) |
| Yellow Cards: |
Tod
(DAFC), Winter (Cowden) |
| Pars Team: |
Stillie, Bullen, Darren Young, Skerla, Nicholson, Mason,
Crawford, Brewster (Mehmet 79), Dempsey (Byrne 67), Kilgannon, Tod Subs
not used: Grondin, McNicol, Scott Y Thomson
|
| Cowdenbeath: |
Carlin, Mowat, McInally, Gilfillan, McKeown, Ritchie,
Shields (Fusco 67), Winter, Brown, Gordon, Buchanan (Mauchlen 61) Subs
not used: Matheson, Slaven, Fleming
|
| Referee: |
H
Dallas |
| Despite a very
poor performance in this scrappy game, Dunfermlline advanced to the next
round of the CIS cup thanks to a goal each from striking partnership
Brewster and Crawford. During a very poor first half, Cowden had two
excellent chances to take the lead. Stillie had to make a superb save from
a Shields overhead kick, and rebound, and then following a poor Tod
clearance, Brown should have done much better with only Stillie to beat.
In the second half DA took command, and Crawford finished well from a
Brewster pass to give the Pars the lead ten minutes after the break, and
the game was over when an unmarked Brewster headed in a Kilgannon
corner. |
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|
| Date: |
27th
September 2003 |
Opposition: |
Partick
Thistle |
Score (H/T): |
2-1
(0-0) |
| Competition: |
Sc
Premier League |
Venue |
East End Park |
Attendance: |
4,684 |
| Scorer: |
[0-1]
Grady (50), [1-1] Crawford (55), [2-1]
Crawford (70) |
| Yellow Cards: |
McBride,
Milne, Fleming (Thistle) |
| Pars Team: |
Stillie; Bullen, Skerla, Tod (Thomson 27), Grondin;
Nicholson, Darren Young, Mason, Kilgannon (Labonte 85); Crawford (Mehmet
92), Brewster Subs not used: Ruitenbeek, Dempsey
|
| Partick: |
Arthur; Forrest, Murray, Whyte; Mitchell, Ross (Traynor
61); McBride (Fleming 69), Rowson, Milne; Grady, Bonnes (Britton 58) Grady
|
| Referee: |
K
Clark |
| Dunfermline
recorded their first home win of the season, but the honour of scoring the
first goal on the new pitch went to Thistle. The first half was a fairly
dull affair, despite Kilgannon and Grondin supplying a number of decent
crosses. Kenny Arthur's save from a Grondin
shot was the nearest the Pars came to scoring during the first period. Club captain Scott Thomson made an earlier than anticipated
return to action, when Andy Tod was forced to withdraw injured after 27
minutes. On his arrival Nipper took over the captain's duties having been
handed the armband by Stevie Crawford. After the break, Thistle took the lead, when Grady's shot was deflected by
Thomson and looped into Stillie's net. Dunfermline came back and Man of
the Match Grondin's cross was knocked into the net by Crawford from close
range. The winning goal came when Kilgannon, who had one of his best games
in a Pars jersey fired over a cross that the Partick defence failed to
deal with, leaving Crawford with the fairly easy task of finishing.
Kilgannon had the ball in the net with seven minutes remaining, but his
strike was ruled out for offside. |
| |
| |
| In his after match interview, manager
Jimmy Calderwood praised David Grondin saying, "Grondin
was absolutely magnificent. Everything went through him and Kilgannon. |
| Andy Tod broke his toe
during the Thistle
game and had to go to hospital for treatment and is expected to miss the
next game against Livingston. |
| After an eight month injury nightmare,
Scott Thomson was delighted to make his return to action against Thistle
admitting there were times when he feared his career was over. The
club captain was given a standing ovation as he took his place on the
field. |
| In an amazing post match outburst, which
smacked of sour grapes, Partick boss Gerry Collins and Chairman Alan Dick
both slammed East End's artificial surface. Both claimed that the pitch
gave an unfair advantage to Dunfermline as Pars players know exactly
what footwear to use. Thistle intend to lodge an official complaint with
the SPL, SFA and UEFA (and presumably the Court of Human Rights), and have
stated that they will consider boycotting their next visit to EEP in March
if they have to play on the pitch as it is at the moment. Livingston's
Stuart Lovell also jumps on the bandwagon saying "I'm sure these
surfaces will have a bigger effect on players than grass in terms of wear
and tear on their joints". Meanwhile, DA's Craig Brewster
defends the pitch, saying that he liked playing on it, and that it was a
'footballers surface". Dunfermline issue a statement stating
that the pitch was now been given UEFA accreditation prior to any matches
being played. |
| Pars Under 21 team gain a 2-2 draw
against Thistle at Firhill. A Trialist and Gary Dempsey score. |
| Hamish French severs links with the first
team to take over the role of Community Coach, taking overt from John
Glancy. |