Club History | Season 2009-2010
The Pars to finish third, with 58 points. Top scorer was Andy Kirk with 17 from only 28 appearances. Top for appearances was Wullie Gibson with 42, followed by Austin McCann and Nick Phinn, both with 39.
Last season had been a strange one. At home the form had been abysmal, on the other hand, the away form had been excellent. Jim McIntyre now had a season and a half under his belt. On the few occasions that he had been able to play a winger, the team had looked promising. Simon Wiles had looked a good prospect and Kevin Harper had responded to the challenge. Unfortunately Wiles picked up a bad injury and, without the challenge, Harper had reverted to long bouts of absence from the side and had been released. Simon Wiles was given a chance to recover from his injury but was released in August and went to Barrow.
Of last season`s green shoots, Nick Phinn and Calum Woods blossomed. Iain Williamson continued to be plagued by injury and illness and eventually signed for Raith Rovers after a loan spell. Stuart Dearden and Calum Reidford had been released and both Rory Loy and Jamie Mole were returned to their parent clubs. Along with the afore mentioned Kevin Harper, four senior players also left the club:- Greg Shields, Scott Thomson, Scott Wilson and Paul Gallacher. On the way in were goalkeeper Greg Fleming, on loan from Oldham, Joe Cardle and Steven McDougall from Airdrie United, Andy Dowie from Ross County, Chris Higgins from Clyde and Wullie Gibson from Kilmarnock.
A number of friendlies took place in July before the serious business got under way, in the Challenge Cup, at home to Arbroath. Andy Kirk and Stephen Bell were the scorers in a narrow 2-1 win. The month was completed by another friendly, this time against a Coventry City side which included future Pars manager, James McPake and future youth coach Stephen Wright. Andy Kirk gave The Pars a 1-0 win. August began at Dumbarton`s new ground in the League Cup and an excellent 5-0 win saw The Pars through to the next round. Despite a good performance, Athletic lost their opening League match 1-0 at home to Inverness Caley Thistle. Scott McBride left for a six month loan to Cowdenbeath. Last year`s away form continued when Morton were beaten 2-0 at Cappielow. Unfortunately, so did the poor home form and only 941 fans turned up to see Dunfermline go out of the Challenge Cup by 2-1 at home to Queen of the South.
Airdrie United at home in the League was next and Graham Bayne had The Pars in front at half time. Just before the hour mark The Diamonds brought on substitute Tom Nolan and almost immediately he scored with a wonderful strike. Unfortunately it rocketed into his own net and Dunfermline, at last had won a home match, 2-0. To complete the month were two games at home to Raith Rovers. In the first of these, a 2nd round League Cup tie, Wullie Gibson was unstoppable in this game and two goals for Andy Kirk along with a Mark Campbell own goal, saw Dunfermline through 3-1.
The second game was in the League and The Rovers were in no mood to be played off the park a second time. Allowed much leniency by an inept referee Gibson was kicked up and down the park until he was suckered into making a gesture towards the latest player to foul him. After ignoring all the fouls, this was just what the referee was waiting for and off went Oor Wullie. The Rovers went on to win 2-0. After all the August activity, September began with a blank week because of Internationals. Dunfermline`s first encounter was at Dens Park, where they lost narrowly by 1-0.
The next game was a particularly notable one in that it was the 100th anniversary of Partick Thistle`s move to Firhill, the venue for today`s tussle with Dunfermline Athletic. The Jags wore a replica of their strip of a century ago - dark blue shirts and white shorts. Athletic were the perfect guests, playing like haddies and never threatening to spoil their host`s party. Amidst all the literature, it was interesting to note that the best goal ever scored at Firhill was considered to be that scored by none other than Dan McLindon. The next round of the League Cup brought a much improved performance from The Pars, at Tynecastle. Unfortunately it was not enough and Hearts prevailed 2-1. Because of the joke of an organisation that sets the fixtures, Dunfermline only had one game in the month. The game was not worth waiting for as a mistake ridden performance against Queen of the South led to losing a game 4-1 which, on play, they should have won by a similar margin.
So in to October and a postponement of the game away to Ross County, because they were involved in the Challenge Cup. Ayr United at home saw the crowd drop to 2460 but Athletic won 3-1 with two goals for Wullie Gibson and one for Andy Kirk. The postponed game in Dingwall was played midweek and finished 0-0. Another trip to the Highlands also finished drawn, this time 1-1 in Inverness. There were two home games to complete the month. Morton were soundly beaten 3-1 before League favourites Dundee escaped with a 1-1 draw.
The first weekend in November was a bit special for Pars fans. On Friday, the Supporters Trust staged "The Roller Coaster Years" at the Alhambra, a wonderful evening of nostalgia, film clips and anecdotes with many of the stars of the 80`s on stage. The whole event was compered by Jason Barber. The following day, the current team won the Fife Derby at Starks Park, 2-1. In the evening the Hall of Fame dinner saw four very worthy inductees in Bobby Robertson, John Watson, Kenny Thomson and, posthumously, Norrie McCathie. A wonderful weekend was completed on the Sunday with the Match for Mary (Leishman), which featured a team of former Pars managed by Jim Leishman:- John Hillcoat, Bobby Robertson, Graeme Robertson, Andy Williamson, Grant Tierney, Bobby Forrest, Ian McCall, Jim Bowie, Ray Farningham, Stuart Rafferty, Paul Smith, Steve Morrison, Ian Campbell, Ross Jack and John Watson, with a special guest appearance by Ally McCoist against a similar team under Dick Campbell:- Greg Shields, Andy Tod, Ivo den Bieman, Allan Moore, Scott McCulloch, Derek Fleming, Hamish French, David Bingham, Jason Dair, Kenny Ward, Allan Preston, Andy Smith, Stevie Crawford and Owen Coyle. Amid the joy, the weekend was hit by tragedy when Hugh Whyte died. The happy glow returned the following weekend when Partick Thistle were beaten 3-1 at East End Park and continued as Queen of the South were defeated 2-1 at Palmerston.
December opened with a shock for Pars fans as their heroes managed to conjure up a 1-0 defeat at second bottom Ayr United. The next two games brought visitors from the North. Ross County scored late on to salvage a 3-3 draw, whilst the pre-Christmas match ended 0-0 with Inverness Caley Thistle in front of only 2280 fans. Young Greg Paterson made his long awaited debut in this game. Bad weather accounted for the final game of the year at Airdrie. The weather also defeated the first game of the year, against Raith Rovers at East End. The Pars had done all they could to get the game on, including having the undersoil heating on all over the holiday and by sweeping the snow away from the environs of the ground. Unfortunately, Fife Council couldn`t be bothered to clear pavements and several days worth of snow had compacted.
With more snow forecast, the police called the game off on the basis that the vicinity of the ground would be unsafe. They took a lot of stick for this but were completely vindicated when the snow came blizzarding in as predicted. The year`s first game to go ahead was on the 9th, when Stenhousemuir came visiting for a 4th round cup tie. The Pars rattled in seven goals with only a single counter in response. Unfortunately, behind the scenes, the club had made a series of cock-ups with team selection and team lines. Calum Woods was still under suspension but was not only listed as substitute (not spotted by the referee) but was brought on as a late substitute. Athletic, after initially being thrown out of the tournament, were, on appeal, required to replay the game at Ochilview. Whilst the appeal was going on Dunfermline lost narrowly 3-2 away to Dundee, then trounced Partick Thistle 4-1 at Firhill. Star of the show was Joe Cardle, who scored a hat-trick, after coming on as substitute. The replayed cup tie was next and The Pars scraped home 2-1. The home match with Queen of the South was a late call off, due to the weather.
February`s first match for Athletic was the 5th round cup tie at home to Celtic. As it was to be televised it was switched to Sunday and The Pars played well but lost 4-2. Scott McBride signed for Cowdenbeath but there was a welcome return for Gary Mason after spells at St Mirren and Hamilton Accies. The trip to Dingwall ended 2-2 but the next game resulted in a 1-0 defeat at home to Ayr United. The Honest Men had both Junior Mendes and Tam McManus in their side, the latter netting the winner. Gary Mason made his first start away to Morton, got booked and scored one of the goals in a 2-1 win. Welcome back Gary.
Before leaving February, I must relate an exploit of The Pars mascot, Sammy the Tammy. The Winter Olympics had been on television and everyone had been impressed with the Gold Medal winning performance of Amy Williams in the "Skeleton-Bob". Sammy`s invention and sense of fun knows no bounds and he decided to stage his own tribute. To mounting incredulity, Sammy, equipped with a large plastic tray, climbed to the back of the Norrie Stand and sat down on his tray. Surely he wouldn`t!! Don`t do it shouted Alex Mill, the stadium announcer, but Sammy`s mind was made up and off he set at increasing speed. I had visions of some poor punter turning into the aisle with a tray of pies and Bovril to be met by a hurtling lunatic in an 8ft bear suit. Thankfully there was no calamity. Into March and a visit from Airdrie United. A good 2-0 win was followed by a previously postponed match away to the same club. It was not so easy this time and it took a late equaliser from Wullie Gibson to save a point.
The club was hit by another sad loss when Bobby Smith died. After recent poor performances against Queen of the South, it was nice to record a 3-1 home win. Unfortunately, only 2134 fans were there to see it. More than double that figure were at East End the following midweek to witness a 2-1 win over Raith Rovers. The Pars repeated the medicine at Starks Park by the same score. Yet another Pars legend passed away with the loss of Hugh Robertson. Partick Thistle stole a 2-1 win, also at East End, with a super goal from Simon Donnelly. The final Saturday of the month saw a poor display and a 2-0 defeat at Palmerston, but there was still time for a midweek 2-1 win at home to League Leaders Dundee. Greg Paterson, who had at last battled his way into the team, suffered a broken leg.
April arrived with a home match against Ross County, who were having an excellent season in both League and Cup. It was a well deserved 2-1 win for The Staggies who were to go on to beat Celtic in the Cup Semi-Final. Chris Smith had returned from St Mirren to take over from Greg Paterson. The last Saturday in the month and it was The Pars last home game of the season. A splendid hat-trick from Steven Bell and one from Nick Phinn provided a 4-1 win against Morton.
On the 1st of May, Dunfermline finished their season with a 1-0 win away to Airdrie United, thanks to Nick Phinn. This enabled The Pars to finish third, with 58 points. Top scorer was Andy Kirk with 17 from only 28 appearances. Top for appearances was Wullie Gibson with 42, followed by Austin McCann and Nick Phinn, both with 39. Greg Fleming returned to Oldham and there was to be no new contract for Stephen Glass, Greg Ross, Scott Muirhead, Graeme Holmes or Ross Campbell. Fans awaited the arrival of The Pars 125th year, with interest.
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