Season 2006/2007 Review: July-December

The season has just finished and the disappointment and relegation and a Scottish Cup final defeat are still raw, but now is a time for reflection on a campaign which started badly, had the potential to be memorable but fell on the final furlong. Here's the story of season 2006/2007 for Dunfermline Athletic......

Part One: July-December

July

As is always the case with the start of pre-season, there is a lot of optimism around East End Park that the Pars could make a move away from the relegation battles which haunted them in the previous two seasons. Jim Leishman certainly shows positive signs as he makes some shrewd signings.

Goalkeeper Dorus De Vries is snapped up from Den Haag in Holland having impressed on the Pars tour there, while also joining the club are Liverpool youngster Callum Woods, striker Noel Whelan from Livingston and central defender Phil McGuire from Doncaster Rovers.

Leishman had spent the entire summer looking for Jim McIntyre to lead the Pars attack and finally secured his services from Dundee United . Unfortunately, he would be sidelined until January with a neck problem.

On their return home, the Pars play host to Gretna, Carlisle United, Osasuna and West Bromwich Albion in friendly matches. They lose to Gretna by 3-1, Carlisle claim a 2-0 win and John Hartson scores for the Baggies in their 1-0 success. Spaniards Osasuna are held in a game noteable for the appearance of Ivorian centre back Sol Bamba, who impresses sufficiently to earn a contract and cult status with the fans.

There is plenty of early optimism for the season opener with Scottish Cup holders Hearts at the end of July but the visitors take an early lead to dampen the Pars fans spirits. A Stephen Simmons equaliser gives Dunfermline hope, but a gilt edged chance missed by Freddie Daquin proves costly as Bruno Aguiar scores the winner for the Jambos from a hotly disputed free-kick.Andy Tod is sent off in a game where Pars fans felt cheated by the diving antics of the visiting players. A good performance in defeat, with plenty to look forward to.

But the game proves to be Whelan's only appearance for the club, lasting only 4 minutes before going off with a cruciate ligament injury.

August

The first game of the month sees Leishman's side travel across the Forth to take on Falkirk in the derby, but turn in a performance totally different to that against Hearts. The Pars didn't turn up and an early Darren Barr header won the game for the Bairns, who were unfortunate to only win by one goal.

There are more encouraging signs as Pars comeback to draw 1-1 with Rangers at home thanks to an Owen Morrison goal before holding Dundee United at Tannadice, with Mark Burchill missing an early penalty. A 1-0 defeat at Aberdeen is followed by a truely shambolic performance in the second round of the CIS Cup, where Ayr United take last year's beaten finalists all the way to penalties at Somerset Park. The Fifers hold their nerve to clinch a 7-6 spot kick win which was barely deserved.

As the transfer window comes to a close, Leishman pulls off what appeared to be a great piece of business as Stevie Crawford returned to East End from Aberdeen. After plenty of rumours the previous season about the possibilty of him returning, the Craw finally made it back after 2 years away. As Jim Hamilton, who Leishman had been chasing all summer, also signed from Motherwell, optimism was high that the Pars would soon climb the table, despite only claiming two points from their opening five games.

September

Kilmarnock are the visitors to East End on the 8th of September as the Pars secure their first league victory. In a game where the visitors played the better football and are ahead twice, Stevie Crawford's homecoming proves memorable as he fires home the winning the goal with four minutes remaining after Darren Young and Gary Mason had struck to counter goals from Danny Invincible and Gary Wales. Many fans wonder if manager Leishman shaving off his famous 'tache for Andy Tod's testimonial fund is the catalyst for the success.

The Pars, with Bamba outstanding, put in a good performance but go down 1-0 to the champions Celtic at Celtic Park before taking on St Mirren at home. The Buddies had started the season well and John Sutton gave them an early lead.But Dunfermline came roaring back and an excellent strike from Darren Young levelled the game before Crawford pounced on a St Mirren error to hammer home the winning goal with 14 minutes left. The hitman was already repaying the faith shown in him by Jim Leishman with 2 winning goals in 3 matches.

It was then on to Inverness and what transpired to be a thoroughly insipid game of football. Leishman's men looked like they had done enough to claim a share of the spoils but a deflected Ross Tokely shot deep into stoppage time condemned the Pars to their 4th away defeat of the season and leave them sitting in 10th spot in the EssPeeEll.

The team also exited the CIS Cup with a low key 2-0 defeat to Rangers after a really poor performance. The lack of enthusiasm for the tie was evidenced by the crowd, as only 5,702 bothered to turn out, one of the lowest crowds for a Pars home game with an Old Firm side.

October

After a break for Scotland's famous 1-0 win over France at Hampden and the 2-0 defeat in Ukraine, it was back to league business at Fir Park. Despite Crawford again netting, the Pars lost by two goals to one in a game where we performed poorly for the most part again.

But the following game against Hibernian was to prove quite significant.The Setanta cameras rolled into West Fife for the SPL's first Monday night live game and Hibs, under the leadership of Mark Proctor after Tony Mowbray departed for West Brom, simply demolished the hapless Pars, with Ivan Sproule tormentor in chief. He opened the scoring just before half time and ran the Pars ragged in the 2nd period as goals from Chris Killen then two late strikes from Abdessalam Benjelloun wrapped up a 4-0 win which certainly didn't flatter the Leith outfit.

Leishman and his team left the field to a chorus of boos and only days later, he resigned from his second term as manager of Dunfermline Athletic, with the club lying second bottom of the league. The search began in earnest for a new manager.

The Pars ended the month with a trip to Tynecastle, a notoriously difficult venue for the Fifers to take points from in recent years. There was dressing room unrest at Hearts before the game, with madcap owner Vladimir Romanov threatening to sell the team to "Kilmarnock or whoever will take them" if they didn't beat the Pars.

Sadly, he never carried out his threat as Dunfermline, under the stewardship of caretaker boss Craig Robertson, departed from Gorgie with a hard earned point. An early goal from Andrius Velicka should have saw the Jambos go on to win the game, but we fought hard and deservedly equalised through Jim Hamilton's first Pars goal into the second half.

An encouraging end to what had been a difficult month.

November

The hunt for the Pars new manager was well and truely on, with a variety of names including Bobby Williamson, Craig Brewster, John Robertson and Owen Coyle all linked with the job. As the board conducted their thorough search, matters on the field turned to the visit of the enemy Falkirk to Fife, who had started the season in fine form.

Infuriatingly for the home fans, the team turned in a performance even worse than that in the first game between the two sides at Grangemouth and were duly gubbed 3-0. Falkirk's on loan striker Anthony Stokes, who was proving to be a goalscoring sensation which would win him a transfer to Sunderland, scored a hat-trick after opening the scoring inside 40 seconds of the game starting. He added further strikes after the hour and with 9 minutes left to send the big away support home delirious and send a sorry Dunfermline outfit to the bottom of the league.

Robertson's final match in charge was against Rangers at Ibrox, and Dunfermline's winless record there since 1973 remained intact following a 2-0 defeat. However, there was a much improved performance from the capitulation against Falkirk and it took second half goals from Stevie Smith and Kris Boyd to win the game.

The day before that game was very significant however as it saw the announcement of the Pars new manager, and it was a surprising choice. Irishman Stephen Kenny, formely of Derry City, was announced as the new boss. His record in Irish football with Longford Town, Bohemians and Derry, in league and cup, was very impressive and first caught the eye in August as his Derry team took Gretna apart by 7-3 on aggregate in the UEFA Cup en route to the 1st round proper.

He was introduced to his new public before the match with Dundee United and settled into the stand for the game, which the Pars came from behind to win. Scoreless at half time, the new man went to the dressing room to speak to the players but they fell behind to a Barry Robson goal on 53 minutes. But late goals from Greg Shields and Gary Mason gave the Pars their 3rd league success of the season and ensured the likeable Irishman got off to a dream start.

Aberdeen were next up but the game ended in disappointment for Kenny, as his attack minded formation failed to pay off as Aberdeen hit the Pars with 3 sucker punch goals, all stemming from individual errors.

December

A bad start to the month saw Dunfermline crash 5-1 to Kilmarnock at Rugby Park, despite Stevie Crawford netting a 12th minute equaliser. A bad day was made worse as Sol Bamba, on as a sub, was red carded for a push on Steven Naismith. Kenny admitted post match that he had perhaps gone "a bit too attacking" and paid the price.

The following day he was back in Ireland to lead Derry City into their FAI Cup final with St Patrick's Athletic at Lansdowne Road. In a thrilling contest, the Candystripes edged it by 4 goals to 3 after extra time to take the cup home to the Brandywell and provide Kenny with a fitting send off.

The gaffer knew he had to make changes and installed Declan Devine as first team coach. Declan had worked with Stephen for 2 years at Derry City and agreed to follow his former boss to Fife in a bid to revive the club's fortunes.

Some improvement was shown as Celtic were made to work hard for victory, winning by 2-1 as Stephen Simmons netted a consolation deep in injury time. Not for the first time during the season, Dunfermline played well but lacked a cutting edge up front.

Another addition to the backroom team was announced on the 12th of December as Colm O'Neill was appointed as Sports Scientist. The fitness, or lack of, was identified early on as a key problem by Stephen Kenny and he sought to get the team fitter by hiring Colm, changing training methods, changing eating habits and introducing regular swimming sessions and ice baths. As the weeks progressed, the change in the team's fitness was extraordinary.

An already crucial game followed the following week in Paisley, where the Pars played out a scoreless draw with St Mirren, recording only their second clean sheet of the season. A 3rd followed against Inverness at East End, in a game which the Pars dominated but couldn't breach a well marshalled visiting defence. Stevie Crawford harshly saw red for two bookings as frustration at not finding a winner got to the team.

Another home fixture on Boxing Day saw Motherwell rob us blind and escape with 3 points. The Pars created a barrowload of chances but, as would be the case for much of the season, simply could not stick the ball into the back of the net. Mark Fitzpatrick scored in the first half before a Scott McDonald breakaway with eleven minutes remaining won it for Motherwell. Jim Hamilton became the second Pars player to see red in as many games for a reckless elbow on Stephen Craigan.

The year ended with a trip to the capital to take on Hibs and despite playing well and holding out for an hour, a Chris Killen double including a penalty saw off the Pars challenge. As the last hours of 2006 ticked by, Dunfermline sat bottom of the league but the change in the style of play was evident, and the team were becoming much harder to beat. Despite being quite a few points adrift of St Mirren, the fans were still confident the team could turn it around.