Well, absolutely brilliant win for the jags that the dunfermline fans wont be happy about.

Scored in the last five minutes in what was to be one of the best 0-0 draws ive seen.

We got three shots cleared off the line while they hit the post thre times.

Brilliant start to the season for us and i reckong the dunfermline fans will feel extremely hard done by.

One other point, the referee,.....WTF.... completely ignoring wild tackles while being picky about when players should be waiting for his whistle to be blown. Idiot if you ask me.

Well done Jags.

Couldnt make it today. What was the attendance and atmosphere?

Agreed. I'd have been gutted to lose that as a Jags fan, but equally I can imagine Pars fans feeling bad about losing, especially after they'd seen Thomson hit the post about a minute earlier. Fantastic strike by McKeown though, worthy of winning any game.

Could have gone either way to be honest, plenty of chances. We should have scored earlier than we did, there was 10 minutes 2nd half we were all over Dunfermline but there were also times they looked likely to take the lead.

Thought the ref was shocking, should have brought his book out a lot earlier, there were a couple of really bad tackles from the Fifers.

Oh and I am certain the ball crossed the line for the Pars in the 2nd half, the one cleared off the line. I was pretty much in like with it and was surprised it wasnt given, thankfully a defender and Tuffey were in the way of the lino on the far side.

Anyway its good to get off to a winning start to the campaign, I just hope Marco Van Roberts isnt too badly hurt.

Atmosphere was pretty good, good from both ends, bit flat during the game but a lot of chances made it more exciting. Ref got a lot of stick for being an idiot half the time.

Think the attendance was 3002??? Might have misheard.

Just over 3,000 and pretty good from our end. Not much noise coming from the away fans to be honest.

3092 I think it was.

Overall very even game, they hit post a couple of times, we had a few cleared off the line, probably a draw was right but we'll take it.

Chaplain isn't good enough and McKeown deserves the nod over him every time.

I'm beginning to think the same thing

Should give him the nod against Airdrie next week, if not Forfar. Hopefully Roberts is ok, heres hoping for some good news injurywise.

Game that could have gone either way with the chances spurned by both sides but in the end we got there and got the 3 pts. Pars fans will have every right to be miffed about the result, we would be the same if the shoe was on the other foot IMO.

Really enjoyed that, despite the frustration caused by our none existant midfield.

We started off 3-5-2 but Dunfermline had all the ball first 15 without looking dangerous. Then we had a bullet header from Maxwell maybe, that was headered off the line, and Roberts flicked the ball over Gallagher from a ridiculous angle, only for it again to be cleared off the line. Roberts pulled up, with a suspected hamstring injury, and was replaced by Donnelly. The rest of the half seemed to fizzle out, but I'm not sure if Dunfermline hit the post in the first half.

Bayne and Thomson both hit the posts with powerful headers for the Pars, whereas Harkins had a powerful header again cleared off the line, followed by a scramble in the box.

Wilson and Shields insistance on kicking the ball out under very little pressure began to create it's own problems for Dunfermline, and when a corner was punched to the edge of the box by Gallagher, sub Steven McKeown hit a controlled volley through a melee of players into the bottom corner. That was pretty much it as we held out for victory.

Our defence had a few dodgy moments, but all in all looks very solid and Tuffey made some great catches under pressure. The midfield three of Harkins, Rowson and Chaplain was really dissappointing. Harkins tried too much, with Rowson doing too little and Chaplain just looked lost. McKeown must start next week, and looked like the Chaplain of old.

Once our midfield get's going, and Buchanan maybe comes back, we could be dangerous.

Really good game which either team could have won in the end. Unfortunately for us it was Thistle who got the goal, obviously gutted about that, but I'm pretty happy with the way we played. Both teams played reasonably well, some good football, and lots of chances created. Just that one moment that swung the game Thistle's way, but it could just as easily have been a win for us. I think there'll be a lot of very tight games like today this season. Somers was hopeless as usual, his decision to give a goal kick when the ball was clearly deflected behind by a Thistle player about 5 years in front of him was ridiculous, just as well the linesman (50 yards behind him!) saw it and told him to give a corner.

Summed him up for me, one of the few referees I genuinely dread before the game. Thought Bayne looked very useful in the air and once him and Kirk get going Dunfermline will be dangerous. Not much more to add except to hope that Roberts' injury isn't too bad, good game which either team could have won. Thought our time had been and gone with our spell after half time, but McKeown took his goal brilliantly.

what a result today. And some goal !
my main point is the tune when the players come out.
we must get Banana Splits back as its the greatest run out song ever !

great game of football, 2 good teams.

Aye decent game the day. Once we get going we'll be hard to beat, and probably deserved a draw out of the game although Thistle probably just about deserved it.

Bayne looked excellent and when Kirk is fully fit those two will score goals.

At least the men wearing black and white actually looked bothered today, a vast improvement on recent seasons.

Where's the arguments? Come on people. Question for Pars fans: just after Donnelly missed at the end of the 1st half about 10 giant kids behind the goal were screaming abuse at someone, on there feet and their large shiney domes were red with rage, didn't appear to be Donnelly so I thought it might actually have been one of your players, anyone able to shine any light on it?

It was Scott Wilson, he received some stick from a few fans and had a go back at them.

Thought thats who it was. Not shy of a word or two with the fans is big Scott.

Good to see Dosser scoring (well not really cos it was for Thistle ), was always one of those "gives 100%" players but never had too much ability. In the last couple of years however he's turned into an excellent all round player.

Can't really argue with any of the above. Obviously disappointing to lose like that and it was a game that really could have gone either way. On the balance of play a draw would definitely have been more fitting, but thistle managed to score while we didn't so fair enough. However, as a game of football that is the most enjoyable 90 minutes I've seen at a Pars game for over a year - it was a better game than anything I saw last season and despite the result I really enjoyed it. Both teams played pretty well I thought, both looking quite good going forward - I'm just a wee bit disappointed to lose rather than angry at how we played because really there is nothing to be angry about.

For most of the game the ref was OK I thought, then with about 20 minutes to go he lost it. He was right not to book shields for a tackle that looked much worse than it was which might often have seen a booking. the 3 he did give were fair enough. His pickiness about not letting free kicks be taken quickly started to irritate me though, and I was bloody raging that he didn't give a penalty for the two handed shove in the box while trying to shield it out. you're allowed to use your body to do that, but certainly not allowed to shove your opponent in the back.

Bayne looked quite good for us, got around the park quite well and Nicky Phinn did well until it was obvious he was knackered and had to be subbed. Thistle looked quite good down their left side.

Shame about the result, but I'm not going to get too upset based on how the game went - nice to have proper fitba back with a bit of a shout and a rant, and a good game as well.



Just shows how it depends where you are really - from my perspective among the Pars fans it seemed like the opposite - I guess it just shows the noise doesn't travel as far as we might like to think!

He was a fud


Tbh i thought it was the opposite...but then it all depends on where your sitting.

All our noise comes from section one, which is the opposite end of the stand from where the away fans are next to. You were next to the under 16 section so probably only heard the noise of sweetie wrappers and rattles.

I couldn't really hear your fans, but there was some odd looking Bouncy imitations going on in stages.

Not a match for the Livi bounce.

Called the East End Bounce...because you might have noticed they would have done 1 bounce stopped then done another...

They don't just jump up and down, they mix it up a bit, and go from side to side on occassions.

Sorta like the Cha Cha Slide.

What a good game of football to watch which was both entertaining and, in the end, disappointing.

It was a surprise to see both sides passing the ball about and having a go.

We were unlucky to hit the woodwork three times but lucky Nick Phinn was there to clear off the line twice

I honestly thought it was all set for a draw then Peter Barlow didn't get enough distance on a lame punch and the ball was smacked back in through a ruck of players for the winner.

Ah well...well worth the entry fee and lets hope that both teams continue to play that style of football and this league might just end up being a cracker this season.

It's weird how things work out. Most Pars fans seem really happy because they've played well, even though they lost, whereas when they beat us last season they all seemed quite dissappointed by it.

I never leave games dissappointed if we've won, but I suppose it's a sign of how awful Dunfermline were last season.

Weird?
Not the East End Bounce that I remember everyone doing then.


Not too despondent about the result as we seemed to have put on a good performance and we were unlucky not to score.
Although the 4-5-1 has been working we might need to scrap it with the arrival of Kirk and switch to 4-4-2 (I heard that when we did we looked more dangerous today apparently).
I reckon Bell could make a difference and give us more bite in the midfield when he gets back into the team.
It's a pity we didn't get Kirk a few weeks earlier in order to get him match fit.

I'm sure nobody was disappointed after any of our wins over you last season - I'm pretty sure that all we said after the 1-0 at EEP early in the season is that we were pretty lucky. When we won at Firhill near the end of the season it wasn't a particularly good game. When the game is good like we all seem to agree it was today, surely it's worth saying so, even if your team has lost?

You're probably right with the last sentence though - even when we started to win games last year there wasn't a single game that I can say that I enjoyed as a game of football - just such a difference to see something actually worth watching today. I'm not 'really happy', because my team lost, I'm just quite content because my team played quite well and contributed to a game of football that I enjoyed. I know it might make us look a bit moany given that we ended up in 5th, but last season was one of the most miserable in years as a Pars fan - many of the folk who watched us in the second division in the 80s when we were truely awful thought the same. I suppose it's just a nice change from that. If we continue to play like we did today, this season will be far more enjoyable than last.

I'm not criticising Pars fans for being happy after seeing some exciting football. I really enjoyed all the games around christmas at home last year, even though we won none of them, because we absolutely battered teams.

I'm sure Dunfermline fans were dissappointed with the style of football in the 1-0 game as you basically didn't leave your half for the whole second half. I still don't know how you finished above us last season, or I do - Buchanan getting injured.

We finished above you last season because we were better than you last season. And tbh Buchanan getting injured for your bad season just means that your team relys to heavily on an injury prone striker.

what makes u so better than us?

Better steak bridies.

true

Good game. As said previously close to being the best 0-0 draw I've ever seen, but a cracker of a goal to seal it.

Jags created bundles of chances, but 3 well cleared off the line and Dunfermline created a fair share hitting the post a few times.

We looked a wee bit suspect in defence at times but we covered well.

My overall outlook on the game is that we should have taken more of our chances, and could have, by the same token, have lost by a couple if Dunfermline had taken better advantage of our "slack" defence.

Always great to win your first game though. Not a bad support through from the Fifers either. Less of your Bouncy though please .

Tuffey: comfortable, with a couple of suspect kicks
Paton: well marshalled by Robertson, a wee bit slack with passing (occasionally)
Twaddle: not as fast as I'd have liked down that wing, but fairly solid in defence
Storey: started well; made a few clumsy errors later on
Robertson: good game at the back, helped Paton through the game at times
Maxwell: slow but solid
Chaplain: seemed a wee bit behind it at times, and didn't get into spaces often enough
Rowson: not at his best, a few careless passes, but some nice stuff too
Harkins: bit clumsy. should have been booked, but the ref didn't even give a foul!
Gray: kept quiet by the Dunfermline defence, but punting high balls at him didn't help
Roberts: looked good before he was subbed. did he take a knock? good lob over Gallagher unlucky not to score.

Subs:
Donnelly: spritely, had a good header which he was unlucky not to score from, looked a wee bit tired at the end
McKinlay: pretty anonymous. can't use his right foot. needs to be more assertive
McKeown: cracker of a goal. more imposing than Chaplain. more of the same please!


And Finally: the ref was shite.

We finished above you last season

he pulled up holdin his hamstring chasin after the ball
hope its not long term

by how many points?
eh eh eh....oh yes u are truly a class apart

We hardly finished miles ahead of them, and given the fact we're probably going to be relying on Kirk to bang the goals in until someone else comes in, that's not the most sensible thing to say.

Doesn't matter by how many points.
For all I care at the end of the season I would gladly take first place on bloody goal difference either way your finishing above the other teams...we finished above yous that's fact that makes us the better team over the season..

We did better in the proper cups

No ref would have given a penalty for that. Doesn't matter how blatant the foul is, defenders will always get away with it when supposedly shielding the ball out for a goal kick.

Really?
Funnily enough i will take our 2-0 win that took us to a national final than your 2-1 that took you to the quarter final

thank u exuberant
we were concentratin on the rangers game

Grant228 doesn't do sensible.

He's really ruined this Thistle Dunfermline love in.

The Challenge Cup is a diddy cup. I will continue to say this even if we win it.

And to be a pedant, you were knocked out in the last 32. we beat Livi to get into the quarters. That makes us 2 rounds and a replay to the then best team in Scotland superior to you

agreed. mind you, section 1 weren't too nice about the Fifers

If I was still refereeing I'd like to think I'd have given it.

Fans are always moaning about refs not giving fouls when players are shielding the ball out, but much of that is in ignorance, not realising that you are entitled to block an opponent off with your body while the ball is within playing distance. The one today is entirely different, and something that you don't see very often - the defender screwing it up and shoving his opponent in the back with both hands. The shielding of the ball immediately prior to that was pretty much irrelevant once he shoved with both hands like that.

Where did the Challenge cup come into this?