Falkirk vs Dunfermline

Dunfermline started this game looking like they meant business. In the first minute, Alex Foster picked up on a Ross Clark kick to run at the home defence, but was stopped just short of the line by a gutsy Falkirk defence. Dunfermline remained camped in home territory, but a Falkirk foray in the 8th minute into Dunfermline territory was returned with interest by Andy Pollock who ran half the length of the pitch to score between the posts, giving Connor Simpkins the easiest of conversions to give Dunfermline a 0-7 lead. From the restart, Falkirk made it clear that they were not there to make up the numbers and it was only some resolute defending by Dunfermline that stopped them getting on the score sheet. Dunfermline nearly scored again in the 12th minute when Lliam Quarm won the ball in the loose and fed out to Darroch McKeague who took off in the direction of the home side, but some excellent Falkirk cover stopped McKeague just short of the 22. In the 15th minute Dunfermline took a scrum against the head and the ball was fed out from the half backs of Gordon McLean and Ross Clark to Connor Simpkins who ran diagonally across the pitch to score in the corner, ignoring a two man overlap in the process. Unfortunately the angle was too acute for a successful conversion, 0-12 Dunfermline. After this, the game was mainly played in the Falkirk half with the home side driving at Dunfermline on the counter. In the 23rd minute, Dunfermline had to work hard to stop Falkirk scoring after a succession of Falkirk scrums on the Dunfermline 5. In the 28th minute a nice switch move, involving Ross Clark, Connor Simpkins and Niall Davidson from a scrum on the Falkirk 22, saw Davidson go over in the corner to give Dunfermline a 0-17 lead as Connor Simpkins missed the conversion attempt. Dunfermline continued to press and were unlucky not to add to their score when a back row move involving Lliam Quarm and Angus Thomson was stopped, again by some good defending by the home side. One minute before half time, Dunfermline finally got the try that gave them a bonus point when Andy Pollock went over for his second and Dunfermline’s fourth to take the score to 0-22, the usually reliable Connor Simpkins having left his kicking boots at home this week.
This was truly a game of two halves as Falkirk went at Dunfermline straight from the kick off. For most of the half, Falkirk kept Dunfermline well and truly in their half, but were unable to capitalise on their pressure. Having said that there was some real “backs to the wall” defending from Dunfermline who showed that on this occasion their defence was equal to their attack. In the 57th minute, Dunfermline were down to 14 men when Toby “killer” Gayfor was yellow carded and sin binned for “tackling from the wrong side”, a decision that is worth further investigation by Mulder and Scully! On the hour, Falkirk’s pressure and Dunfermline’s one man disadvantage told when Falkirk went over for a converted try to take the score to 7-22. It was not until the 61st minute that Dunfermline crossed the half way line. In the 63rd minute Dunfermline’s highlight of the second half came when Gus McDonald, spectating, went head first into the fence trying to catch a Falkirk clearance – a virtuoso performance that would have been the envy of the late, great Norman Wisdom! Back on the pitch, Dunfermline’s fitness started to tell as they came back into the second half, and by this time, the game had slipped away from Falkirk and at the final whistle, the score remained 7-22 to Dunfermline.
This was a competent display from a Dunfermline side who went to sleep in the second half, and were punished for it by a fired up Falkirk team. However the win was enough to gain the bonus point required to move into second place in the league, but next week, the team will need to be wide awake when Stirling come to call.

Footnote – no JD footnote this week