Well Started: Dunfermline 0-1 Caley

By: Ian Rose | August 8th, 2009

It wasn’t the prettiest match we’ve ever played, but the result is quite lovely. An open back and forth match defined by missed chances finishes 1-0 to the Caley away at Dunfermline, on the strength of a last-minute deflection from first-year Jaggie midfielder Lee Cox.

The Squad (with subs):
Esson
Proctor – Bulvitis – Munro – Djebi-Zadi
Cox – Eagle (Hayes 70′) – Stratford
Imrie (McBain 76′)
Sanchez – Rooney

The first half was all Caley Thistle, and we should have been ahead a few times. Adam Rooney has never been all that fancied by the Caley fans, and he hasn’t made himself any friends today, with a couple of missed sitters. The Irishman just has never been a great finisher to my mind. The best chance of the first half, though, came from Lionel Djebi-Zadi, beating the keeper but missing just wide. We looked to be consistently the better side right up until the halftime whistle.

As has far too often been the case, we lost a lot of steam during the halftime. We might want to take a cue from Hibernian and spend more of our halftime actively warming up. Not that Terry Butcher’s talk doesn’t have value, but I can’t help feeling we cool down a little too much in the interval. Dunfermline came out lively, creating chance after chance. I’d be lying if I said it was all our defensive prowess that stopped them, but their finishing was pretty poor. The Pars did hit the post once, a lucky break for Ryan Esson and the Caley.

With the clock ticking down, I began to resolve myself to a 0-0 finish. After all, a road match away to one of our promotion rivals wouldn’t be such a terrible match to draw. But considering our history at East End Park, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed. Then came Lee Cox. Lovely man. Right at the death, he got a wicked deflection and gave Dunfermline keep Greg Fleming no chance at all.

There was some luck, yes, but we should have gone ahead early anyway, if Adam Rooney could kick a ball straight, and I think the result is deserved.

There was a gray cloud behind the silver lining today, though, as a hard tackle took Dougie Imrie out of the match with a knock on his knee. He tried to come back on, but it wasn’t happening, and we’ll watch his knee closely this week. He would be a massive loss if this is a longer-term injury, but I do think he’ll be alright – hopefully a week off at most.

It’s three points, on the road to a top-half team, (not mention a clean sheet) and that’s good enough for me. I do hope we didn’t trade Dougie Imrie for it, but it’s a good start. More later this week. Mon the Caley.