The relegation battle is hotting up, and on Monday Dunfermline Athletic face another must win game in the fight for survival. After the high of last Monday, St Mirren's victory over Dundee United on Saturday re-opened the 4 point gap between the sides and it is up to Dunfermline to make sure the gap is reduced to a solitary point again with just 2 matches left.
A defeat for the Pars in Monday's live Setanta clash is almost unthinkable, so positivity is the key. Stephen Kenny would always have been looking at this game as a must win anyway, so that has not changed. But there is no margin for error but Dunfermline handled that superbly last week and must do so again against a Motherwell side who aren't entirely safe yet themselves.
Motherwell could still go down if they were to lose their remaining matches while both Dunfermline and St Mirren win theirs, but it is extremely unlikely.
Maurice Malpas brings his side to West Fife aiming to protect a 100% record against the Pars this season but they have hit another rocky spell of results, combined with the loss of Scott MacDonald and Brian Kerr to Celtic and Hibs respectively on pre-contracts.
In those previous meetings this term, Motherwell triumphed by 2-1 and 2-0 at Fir Park. In the first encounter, Stevie Crawford had levelled with 19 minutes left but the home side hit back for a crucial win, while Stephen Kenny's team flopped 2-0 in front of a large travelling support in March, which is the Pars' only defeat in their previous 8 games.
While Motherwell had deserved those victories, the same could not be said of the 2-0 defeat on Boxing Day. Dunfermline dominated the game from start to finish, wasted several good chances and were undone by two sucker punches from that man MacDonald. He will be the main threat to the Pars once again and we will have to keep him quiet.
Dunfermline however go into this game with confidence after recent results, and in Jim McIntyre and Tam McManus, we have strikers working well together and who have given us a goal threat. I don't envisage many changes from the St Mirren game, with the only one being the inclusion of Phil McGuire in place of either Sol Bamba or Stephen Glass. We can also point to our last post split victory over the Steelmen last season, when we won 3-2, if we're looking for more positives.
The penultimate home game of the season could not be more important. With prices set at £12 for adults, £5 for concessions and £1 for kids, Pars fans have a great opportunity to be at East End Park in numbers and give the team great support. As we proved last week, a big and noisy support can make a difference and it could prove vital on Monday.
Come on ye Pars!
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1 comment:
Thanks for ur post .. I'm from Turkey who is trying to follow SPL and all i have been looking for are included in this post of yours .. It's my belief that one of the important things is to know 'how people feel and what the expectations are' and this is almost what i mean.
Thanks 4 post.
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