DUNFERMLINE suffered a late blow as they came up against Dundee United for the teams' first Championship meeting.

The Pars looked set to secure victory until the 96th and final minute of the match when Mathew Cudjoe dashed hopes with a equaliser.

Craig Wighton had scored the first goal of the match at 61 minutes when he headed in a cross from Josh Edwards and the away side fought to maintain their lead.

United came close with attempts from Cudjoe, Kai Fotheringham and Declan Glass in the final 10 minutes of the game but it wasn't until the final seconds that the home team made it 1-1.

Speaking after the match, James McPake said he was "massively proud" of his players, having "fought right to the end".

"That's what it's about," he said.

"I thought it was a good game of football, I thought we did deserve to be in front, I know the shots might not look like that but I think in terms of we did have a lot of shots.

"I'm not going to say I am gutted for my players because I'm not, we've come up here and we've put the performance in and that was the main thing for me.

"I knew if we could perform then we could come up here and get a positive result, I know it doesn't feel like a positive result but those boys down there, what a group to work with every single day."

He praised new boy Ben Summers as well as Andrew Tod as "excellent" and added that, in his view, United is the "toughest challenge" in the league.

Ben Summers' loan deal from Celtic B was announced yesterday (Friday).

The 19-year-old arrived on the pitch as a substitute in the 57th minute alongside Tod, replacing Michael O'Halloran and Paul Allan.

The match started with an early shot from United's Tony Watt in the first five minutes followed by an attempt from Dunfermline's Aaron Comrie, which was saved by Jack Walton.

The home side's Scott McMann also looked to open the scoring, but his shots were twice saved by Harrison Sharp.

Play was paused twice in the first half, when Chris Hamilton, Kyle Benedictus and United's Declan Gallagher were all involved in a head knock.

Benedictus was bandaged up and all three continued on the pitch.

The game stopped again as Kieran Freeman received treatment from physios and was later replaced by Archie Meekison.

There were huge celebrations from Pars fans when Wighton hit the back of the net and it seemed like it was all over for United as the game went into stoppage time.

But a final effort from Cudjoe saw the ball hit the corner of the net seconds before the referee blew his whistle.

Dunfermline: Sharp, Comrie, Edwards, Benedictus, Hamilton, Otoo, Chalmers, Wighton, Fisher, Allan (Summers), O'Halloran (Tod).

Subs not used: Little, Fenton, Sutherland.

Bookings: Hamilton, Fisher

Dundee United: Walton, Holt, Grimshaw, Moult, Sibbald, Middleton (Fotheringham), Freeman (Meekison), Cudjoe, Gallagher, Watt (Glass), McMann.

Subs not used: Newman, Denham, Graham, Chalmers, Duffy, Macleod.