Pars 0 Morton 0 

DUNFERMLINE boss James McPake said this was a game they "should have won" after dominating for more than an hour but failing to find the net. 

After mopping up some early Morton pressure the Pars wrestled back control of the match and never let go, with Matty Todd, Chris Kane, Joe Chalmers and Ewan Otoo all coming close to getting the goal and victory the team's performance merited.

McPake also took aim at rookie ref Ryan Lee for failing to even give a foul when Ton skipper Jack Baird cemented Todd in the middle of the park - the Dunfermline boss was booked in the aftermath for what he said was "pointing" at one of his players.  

The frustrated manager said: "I don’t know how we never got the three points. We couldn't find the net.

"We had umpteen chances to do it but in terms of a level of performance, particularly for the younger ones, and the way that this place sounded as well, I thought that was testament to the way they just kept going. 

"They deserved the goal in the end. Look, it never came and we were gutted with that."

READ MORE: Toothless Pars dominate but can't find a winner against Morton

There were 4,645 fans at East End to see if Dunfermline could gain revenge - Morton smashed them 5-0 last time they visited on Championship business in February. 

But it was the Greenock men that started brightly here, with Alex King getting a free header in the box and ex-Par Owen Moffat jinking inside before thumping a low effort at goal. 

Both were stopped by returning goalie Tobi Oluwayemi, making his first start since the 2-0 win over Raith on September 13, who had missed four matches with injury. 

Athletic slowly took charge, with visiting keeper Gary Woods having to look sharp to stop a Kane Ritchie-Hosler blast, after a short corner routine that actually worked, and a close range spin and shot from Kane. 

Todd had the crowd on their feet ready to acclaim a goal when he arrowed the ball towards the bottom corner just before the break but it slipped by the post. 

It's rare for a team to boss a match as completely as the Pars did here as they were all over Dougie Imrie's men in the second half, who deserve credit for somehow hanging in there for a point.

Chalmers just missed the target with a terrific swerving effort from 25 yards and Kane's downward header was stopped on the line by Woods' outstretched leg. 

Sub Josh Cooper was out of luck with an angled drive that was saved while Otoo's goalbound blast took two deflections and Ritchie-Hosler couldn't force it over the line either. 

McPake admitted: "You get these games and when you reflect on it, you think, how did we not get the win?

"Ultimately, it's what happens in between the goals. I think Chris Kane is very unfortunate. He can't do any more with the header and the goalkeeper is just in the right place. He does great to get to it."

Adding to his annoyance was the performance of the ref in general and the way he dealt with two fouls in particular.

Having seen a replay of Kirk Broadfoot's late lunge on Ritchie-Hosler, McPake said it could easily have been a red card rather than a booking, but added: "I'm not going to moan about that one."

However he was scathing of the official for ignoring the Morton captain's crunching challenge on Todd, which went unpunished. 

He said: "Certainly, when the Baird one is not seen as a foul, - forget what it is yellow card, red card - when that’s not even seen as a foul, then that's a massive problem for me with the officials today."

McPake was booked seconds after the ref waved play on but insisted it wasn't for criticising the official.

He said: “I got booked by the referee for pointing to Joe Chalmers to get the ball to Kane Ritchie-Hosler and the referee told me I'm not allowed to point at him.

"I was pointing at my own player to tell that player to get it to the best player on the pitch.”

Asked if he was booked for passing on instructions to his players, he replied: "Effectively, yeah. I just think there was a spell in this game that control was lost from the officials."

While failing to get the win will "sting" for days, McPake reasoned that Dunfermline's subs all made a positive contribution and, with the depth and quality of the squad now at his disposal, that level of performance should be the norm and enable them to climb the table. 

Among a number of good performances, the boss said it was "best I've seen Kane Ritchie-Hosler in a while" and went on: "It's the noisiest this place has been when he kept getting on the ball.

"So, there are positives but ultimately it’s two points dropped, because that's a game we should have won.”