Dunfermline 1 Hibernian 1

30th November 2002
Scottish Premier League
Attendance:

Scorers:
Hibernian: McManus.
Dunfermline: Crawford.

This is a copy of a report of the game as it appeared in the Scotland on Sunday on Sunday 1st December 2002

Pars prove best of rest

IF THE gang of 10 in Scotland’s top flight stand accused of competing in a league of their own, Dunfermline Athletic remain on course to win the championship. A pocket of their supporters in yesterday’s draw with Hibs even had the audacity to chant that they would not be moved. For them, at least, it would be an achievement worth making a song and dance about. These heady times are as good as they get for the team whose creeping progress under Jimmy Calderwood has become unmistakable this season.

That the manager’s face was tripping him when he emerged to reflect upon this, a less than convincing attempt to entrench themselves in third place, is a measure of how far they have come. They are still the best of the rest, still the Premierleague’s most refreshing development this year and still unbeaten at home in 14 months, that is if the Old Firm are excluded from the equation. "We don’t count them," said Calderwood. It was the first time this season, against anyone but Celtic and Rangers, that Dunfermline have failed to win at East End Park.

Even the Fifers’ commendable capacity to come from behind, a trait that was evident against both Hearts and Dundee lately, was confirmed yet again. Stevie Crawford’s equaliser midway through the second half, a simple conversion that amounted to his 11th league goal of the season, represented due reward for their response. Calderwood, though, was dismayed enough with what he saw as a drop in standards to reprimand his players after the final whistle. "I am just cooling down now," he said. "They are very, very quiet in the dressing-room. They’re a great bunch of lads who have been tremendous, but it was a bad performance this time. Our touch wasn’t there."

All of which was a tad harsh on his players after a sodden day’s play, so soft and slippy as to be an unreliable indicator of the teams’ prospects in the months ahead. When Hibs goalkeeper Nick Colgan somehow allowed the simplest of crosses to squirm from his grasp in the first half, it was clear that this would not be entertainment for the purists.

Hibs, though, will be frustrated that an opportunity to leapfrog Dunfermline was allowed to slip through their fingers. The Edinburgh side have not won at East End Park in ten years, a statistic that would have been rectified had Mixu Paatelainen’s header not faded over the crossbar in the closing minutes. A draw was the least they deserved.

Even if Dunfermline do not fulfil their ambition to secure a place in Europe, they can at least be proud of the manner in which they have set about it. Nine of the team Calderwood selected on St Andrew’s Day could be described as natives, with Scott Wilson and Barry Nicholson, new recruits to Scotland’s Future Team, joining Stevie Crawford in Berti Vogts’ plans for the national side. You have to be good to be a foreigner in Calderwood’s team. Andrius Skerla, making his 100th appearance for the Fifers, proved as much in this one.

After only 12 minutes, with Tom McManus closing in on goalkeeper Derek Stillie, the Lithuanian’s leg seemed to be as long as his service to the club when he slid in to scoop the ball away. McManus, haring around in the absence of the injured Paco Luna, was a lively, energetic presence up front, but service was in short supply during the first half. That Hibs failed to pick him out, with his new bleached hairdo, just about the only thing he has in common with Paatelainen, said little for the visitors.

Craig Brewster, apparently, is another who has an unhealthy obsession with his appearance. Defender Scott Thomson revealed in the match programme that the striker’s dressing-room habits with a hairdryer are among the most annoying at the club. One can only assume that Brewster was disinclined to mess up his barnet when the best chance of the first half fell his way in the 28th minute.

When Nicholson’s searching free kick from out on the left-hand touchline discovered Lee Bullen at the back post, his return across the six-yard box begged for a conversion. Brewster, the foremost in a queue of players converging on Colgan, didn’t even nod his head at it. "Normally Craig would bury that," said Calderwood. "I don’t know what happened."

After a first half in which they failed to direct so much as a single effort in the direction of Stillie’s goal, Hibs came out for the resumption with a new sense of purpose. John O’Neil, in particular, was a creative force in the midfield, bursting forward with such regularity that the suspension which ruled out Grant Brebner was all but forgotten. Twice in the opening few minutes of the second period he escaped the attentions of Jason Dair to drill long-range efforts low and wide of the left-hand post.

It was confirmation that his return from injury is now being followed by a return to full fitness. "There will be a few players disappointed he has done that," said his manager, Bobby Williamson. O’Neil’s most telling contribution, some 13 minutes after the break, was of a more subtle kind. When Gary Smith’s free-kick was flicked on with a twitch of Paatelainen’s head, the midfielder’s pressure on Wilson produced confusion in Dunfermline’s defence. McManus then flashed his left foot at the loose ball and saw the rigging ripple almost as soon as he had made contact.

It was later suggested that McManus, who has now scored three in three outings for Hibs, was enjoying something of a purple patch. The player, though, prefers to attribute his extended run in the side to the patch of another hue that distinguishes his napper. "It’s my lucky haircut," he said. "I am not changing it until I have stopped scoring."

If Dair was annoyed by the room he was allowing O’Neil, he did his utmost to atone for it at the other end. No sooner had his slammed shot from 25 yards risen narrowly over the bar than he was creating another opportunity for Brewster. The striker was unfortunate to hook his half-volley over the top.

The midfielder’s most outstanding contribution was in the build-up to Crawford’s goal. His weaving run, complete with nutmeg and low cross to the back post, enabled the Scotland striker to convert with his instep. "Steve had a quiet day by his own high standards," said Calderwood. The manager’s message was loud and clear.

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