Dunfermline 1 Dundee 1

A late strike from Calum Woods saves Pars from an eighth league defeat of the season at East End Park.

Jim McIntyre made one change from the side that lost against Ross County a week ago.  Jamie Mole replaced Steven Bell.  Dundee made three changes; red cards collected at Dingwall meant Gary MacKenzie and Paul McHale joined international duo Andrew Shinnie and Giorgos Efrem as unavailable to Jocky Scott. 

Former Par, Craig McKeown had not recovered from injury. In for the visitors came Darren Williams and Kyle Benedictus. Two other former Pars Darren Young and Freddie Daquin were on the bench for Dundee.

Dunfermline kicked off attacking the goal at the Cowdenbeath end and when Nick Phinn`s cross was headed behind in the third minute the first corner of the match went the Pars way. Unfortunately Stephen Glass` delivery was too near Rab Douglas and he held it fairly comfortably.  He was kept busy with Graham Bayne drilling a low shot at him and then in fifth minute fielding a Phinn corner from the left with comparable ease.

The Pars certainly started strongly and Douglas had to be out fast to prevent Mole getting on a long ball from Scott Wilson. A mistake handed Dundee their first chance.  A 13th minute clearance out of the penalty box went straight to Eric Paton and his lay off to the right set up Mark Gilhaney for a serious shot at goal but fortunately Paul Gallacher got down to turn the ball out at his near post.

Sadly the promise suggested by the first ten minutes quickly evaporated leaving the Assistant Referees with the most to do with offsides and balls out.  Even the professionals in the press box were looking at each others` screens trying to find something worthy of working the keyboards. 

Alex Burke`s tackle on Gilhaney got them clicking again in 28th minute. The wee man earned himself a yellow card and he would have been relieved to see Paton strike the 25 yard free kick over the crossbar.

At the other end David Graham had an effort blocked, Burke and McCann played balls into the box but to no avail.  Mole tried to dribble his way in on the left side but went down between Paton and Williams leaving Dougie McDonald to wave play on.

In 35 minutes Graham worked a route into the visitor`s box on the left side but Glass mistimed his run and the cut back was missed. Four minutes later Mole broke through on Douglas but his touch prodded the ball too far ahead of him and Douglas was out to thwart him.

Dunfermline failed to find the killer touch and although they controlled swathes of the first half the score remained 0-0 at the interval.

Half Time: Dunfermline 0 Dundee 0

Greg Shields replaced Scott Wilson for the second half and within 20 seconds of the restart there were chances at both ends. Antoine-Curier missed the cross that let Thomson clear and then as Bayne forced his way into the Dundee box, his shot was blocked out.

Andy Kirk then took over Mole`s role but it was the 437 Dundee fans behind Gallacher who were roaring as Gilhaney popped a shot from 25 yards narrowly finding right of target. In 53rd minute McMenamin squared the ball across the face of the Pars goal but Antoine-Curier failed to connect.

Next minute Malone sent the ball over from the left and the Dee striker again failed to take the chance.  A Phinn corner in 55 minutes was headed over the bar by Shields before a Thomson free kick bounced through the box to Phinn and he was decidedly unlucky when he lifted the ball on to the crossbar and out.  The Pars midfielder was not shot shy as he next had a crack from 28 yards that went the same way.

A disastrous mix up between McCann and Gallacher gifted Dundee a goal in 62 minutes. McCann`s chest down just three yards out was directed at his keeper but Gilhaney nipped in and played the ball to MALONE who tapped the ball home. The Pars players appealed but no one was quite sure if it was for offside or the ball crossing the byeline.

Four minutes later there were home claims for a penalty after Phinn`s shot from distance was parried to his left by Douglas and then Bayne was tumbled as he and Douglas went for the loose ball. Alex Burke was subbed by Steven Bell as the match entered its final quarter.

Douglas saved from Phinn and there were attempts to salvage something from the game.  Dundee sat back and Douglas came out for crosses as required but the home side were running out of time.

It was Dundee who spectacularly missed in 83 minutes with McMenamin`s cut back headed wide by Curier. Glass had an attempt blocked and Bayne fired low for Douglas to hold. 

The red shirted keeper never looked as though he was going to have to fish the ball out of his net until Calum WOODS fantastic strike five seconds into added time. The Liverpool lad sensed his chance, took a touch and melted the ball, left footed, from all of 25 yards to settle the ball in the bottom left of the Dundee net.

The Pars last win against the Tayside team remains back when Jim Leishman was the Manager but at least this time they scored a goal - the first in seven matches against the Dark Blues. A draw was deserved but yet again Dunfermline were possibly not ruthless enough. They probed and probed and eventually got the return.

Dundee`s point takes them to within seven points of the league leaders who, of course, have a game against Dunfermline in hand.