DAFC FFIT v Livingston FFIT- 3 Nov 24

The Dream continues

Match day 5 in the new CSS SOFFA league saw Dunfermline FFIT travel across the Firth of Forth to Livingston. A cold a drab day awaited us. Dunfermline travelled without most of their forwards who were missing for this fixture. A makeshift attack was the order of the day. Top of the table Dunfermline were up against bottom team Livingston.
With a squad of 18 to choose from and a few players on the reserve list, we did have plenty of options. The Dunfermline team started with Ross up top and Andy moving from defence in the previous game to left midfield for this one. Billy and Ryan filled the attacking midfield options, with the rest of the team in their usual positions.
As has always been the case in the league this season, Dunfermline got off to a strong start and took the game to our hosts. With some good interplay and movement, we created a few chances. The hosts were active too and had a couple of chances themselves. After 9 mins though, the Pars team made the breakthrough. A beautifully weighted pass from Craig through to Ross on the edge of the box and he moved in on goal and struck a low shot past the keeper into the corner of the net. 1-0 to the Pars. Not long after that, Livingston had a great chance where a misjudged long ball saw Neil out of position and Barry was there to clear the ball off of the line. Shortly afterwards saw some good play down the left hand side of the pitch and Andy moved towards the goal and struck a well hit shot that came back off of the left hand post. Livingston scrambled the ball away.
Dunfermline FFIT remained resolute in defence with some great challenges by each of the backline keeping our hosts at bay. At almost the midway point of the first half, Liam replaced Billy in the attacking midfield position. 5 minutes later and Slatts replaced Ryan and 5 mins after that Gordy came on for Ross. The idea was to keep up the high tempo in the attacking third of the pitch. Dunfermline continued to create chances with some excellent delivery from both flanks (Robbie and Andy). Andy in particular was causing the Livingston defence problems, but unfortunately we could not convert the chances from some excellent crosses. That was until the Barry made a good run from defence and played an excellent ball through to Liam. Liam then struck a wonderful shot from long range into the top right corner of the net. It was an absolute screamer of a shot. That put the Dunfermline side 2 up heading towards half time. Shortly after, Graham, who was now playing the in the main striker position, had a looping header come off of the bar and cleared to safety by the Livingston defence. That took us through to half time.
At half time, we talked about how crucial it would be to get the next goal. We also spoke about how well our passing game was and to continue to exploit things down the flanks. We felt our play in the first half warranted a bigger lead, but we needed to continue to work hard and get the next goal. Although Dunfermline did have some good chances in the second half, our play was more disjointed and lack the fluidity of the first half. Early in the second half, Liam was replaced by Toddy. JJ replaced Stevie with just over 25 mins left and Kenny replaced Gordy with 20 mins left. Ross replaced Graham a few minutes later. We did have some excellent deliveries especially on the right hand side with Craig and Robbie putting in some telling crosses, but we had no one on the end of them. Credit deserves to go to the Livingston side who finished the game more strongly and created a number of chances themselves. They had quite a few corners and some free-kicks in the final third of the pitch. It was from one of those free kicks that saw a great shot from Livingston hit towards the top corner of the net but a fully stretched Neil finger-tipped his save onto the bar and out for a corner. Neil also made a couple of great saves from close range to keep our defensive clean sheet. In the end, the Pars side closed out the game and ran out worthy winners.
In a game that was played in good spirits throughout, there were a couple of bookings, one for either side, for mainly minor offences.

This was yet another excellent team performance, with everyone playing their part. The defence remained solid and earned their clean sheet, with excellent performances from Neil, Soapy (who strolled through the game), Stevie, Barry and Andy. Defence is not limited to the backline and credit goes to the whole team who worked hard to get back behind the ball and make it difficult to break us down.

Livingston FFIT Like 0 Dunfermline FFIT 2
Scorers: Ross, Liam
Assists: Craig, Barry

Dunfermline remains top of the league with a 5 win 0 loss record. Well done to all that have contributed to the season so far. Thanks too to the fans that travelled through to watch us play, including Gav, Richy (Physio), John F and Pom-Pom Paul.