Airdrieonians 1 Dunfermline Athletic 2
DUNFERMLINE boss James McPake was delighted with his team's performance as they eased to victory in Lanarkshire.
Not even a late penalty for the hosts concerned the Pars manager as he felt his side had done enough to claim all three points.
"It was a really good performance first and foremost," he said. "I know everything is about the three points at the end of the day but I harp on all the time that it’s about consistency in your performances that over a prolonged period of time allow you to win more games than not.
"I thought that performance was excellent. From start to finish we were well in complete control of that game.
"In terms of controlling the ball the way we did today and the chances that we created, that’s the best we have been against them."
McPake paid tribute to his side aware that recent ties against Rhys McCabe's team had proved tight affairs.
“It was just a comfortable afternoon in my opinion with some really good play but that is down to the players in the way they carried out all the work that we had done all week," he said.
"You sometimes just get a feeling that we were that much on it that day that we are not going to concede. Obviously they got the penalty so we did concede and we had three minutes to see the game out.
“There were a couple of things in the game where you are going ‘we could have done a bit better’ but the players never panicked and to be fair it was me!
"They were still trying to build with a couple of minutes to go and I’m shouting ‘just boot it’. Get us up the pitch because that is the time to boot it.
“They deserve so much credit for that today because they are not an easy team to play against and certainly not an easy team to play against when you try and go toe to toe with them in a footballing sense. That is what we decided to do today. We have tried loads of different ways and that’s the best we have been footballing-wise against them."
The game saw Dunfermline taking the upper hand in the first half and they deserved to go in at half time a goal ahead.
The opening minutes brought with it plenty of Pars pressure and Josh Edwards was the first to try his luck on goal when he floated a cross-cum-shot in which went just over, landing on the roof of the net.
However it wasn't all the Pars and former Athletic striker Nikolay Todorov looked destined to get his name on the score sheet when the ball came to him from a corner.
His header came back off the inner side of the crossbar and somehow was cleared to safety.
Ben Summers was next on the attack just before the half hour mark when he beat the Airdrie keeper to the ball out wide and crossed in to Lewis McCann whose header went wide.
McCann became provider on 36 minutes when he took the ball on a run in the box before picking out a perfect pass to Edwards who just had to side-foot his effort into the back of the net.
The second half started with Dunfermline on the attack again. They had a foray on goal within a minute after good work from Ben Summers. He put through McCann who tried to slot the ball through to Craig Wighton but the home side cleared.
Joe Chalmers had a chance just before the hour mark when he turned in the box and fired towards goal but his effort went just over.
Substitutes Alex Jakubiak and Matty Todd combined on the 68th minute to double Dunfermline’s lead. Jakubiak made his way into the box and pulled the ball back to Matty Todd who fired home to make it two.
There was another chance minutes later. This time it was Paul Allan who got the ball out wide. His effort was punched out by the Airdrie keeper and came to Edwards who fired low and just wide.
Airdrie created some pressure of their own with ten minutes left on the clock and Denis Mehmet had to rise superbly and palm a header over the crossbar. Minutes later he was called again and produced a solid block at close range to thwart the Airdrie advance.
Jakubiak caused more problems soon after when he drove towards goal but his shot hit the knees of Rae and went out for a corner.
Calum Gallagher slotted the ball past Mehmet to make it 1-2 but the Pars held off to claim victory.
Airdrieonians: Rae, Taylor-Sinclair, Hancock, Fordyce, Frizzel (O’Connor 60)l, Todorov (Gallagher 60), McStravick, McMaster, Megwa, Watson, Gallagher. Subs: Melrose, Hutton, McCabe, Dunlop, McGill, Cassidy, Spalding.
Goals: Gallagher (92)
Bookings: Gallagher, O’Connor
Dunfermline: Mehmet, Comrie, Edwards, Hamilton, Otoo, Chalmers, Wighton (Jakubiak 60), McCann (Moffat 79), Summers (Todd 60), Allan, O’Halloran. Subs: Sharp, Little, Fenton, McLeod.
Goals: Edwards (36), Todd (68)
Referee: Don Robertson
Attendance: 1,650
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