This weekend we welcome Dunfermline to Palmerston for the first time in nearly 6 years and for the first game between the two clubs in the Championship in Dumfries. Also back, after a 3 year absence, is former manager Allan Johnston for his first game in charge of an opposition side at Palmerston.
The Opposition
Dunfermlines league form since our last meeting, a 1-0 win in August, can best be described as inconsistent, with 5 defeats, 4 draws and 3 wins in those 12 games. In the cups, they are through to the next round of the William Hill Scottish Cup, after beating Buckie Thistle but lost in the quarter finals of the IRNBRU cup to, our semi-final opponents, Dundee United. Two of the three league wins came against, a struggling, St Mirren side but neither victory set the Pars off on a run of wins. They'll be hoping that will change after an impressive triumph over, in-form, Morton last weekend. Their last two league games, though, following a win have both been draws.
There are still several familiar faces in the Dunfermline squad, although the likes of Reilly, Paton and Hutton have found starts hard to come by. Johnston has also added another ex-player since our last meeting, snapping up Nicky Clark after his summer move to Bury didn’t work out. Clark, of course, was a huge part of Johnstons league winning season with us and is still the clubs joint-record holder for the most goals scored in one season with 41 goals, a record he holds with Jimmy Rutherford.
Dunfermline will be without, long term injured, defender Ben Richards-Everton and John Herron, who has impressed in the midfield since signing on loan from Blackpool. They have been boosted, though, in recent weeks by the return of, keeper, Sean Murcdoch and, summer signing, Nat Wedderburn who both missed much of the early part of the season through injury.
The Game
This Ladbrokes Championship match kicks off at 3pm on Saturday 17rd December at Palmerston Park, Dumfries. Live updates will be available on the website and on Twitter and Facebook. We will also publish pictures through the day on our new Instagram Channel
The Fans
For home fans, the normal ticket procedure applies for the game and tickets will be available for all areas of the ground on match day from the usual ticket offices. Tickets can also be purchased in advance from the Midsteeple and, from Thursday onwards, the Club Shop.
For season ticket holders, this will be match ticket 9. Full ticket details and pricing, for home and away fans, can be found here
Away fans will be in the Rosefield Salvage Stand. Tickets are on sale on the day at the ground from the usual ticket offices. Directions on how to get to Palmerston, including parking information, can be found here
Never been to Palmerston before? Read our First Time Fan Guide
The Dressing Room
"The players deserve a lot of praise, for their performance at Falkirk, I thought they were different class. Falkirk might have had more possession but I felt that we were the better team.
What was really encouraging for me as a manager was the togetherness that they showed, they fought for each other and worked together. I've said it before, but I'll say it again, all I ask of my players is that they give me one hundred percent and against a tough Falkirk side the boys gave me more than that - they not only gave me everything they had, they also produced a really good performance so I'm pleased for them.
The only criticism I have is the goals that we lost, the goals we scored were different class but the two we gave away were avoidable. The first one, we need to organise the wall quicker and to be honest we shouldn’t be losing goals like that, but the players know that themselves. We'll continue to improve the defensive side of our game and move on.
Last week was a good point and something for us to build on. It sets us on the right direction, there is still work to be done and we have a long way to go before we get to where we want to be but as long as we all keep sticking together and giving it everything then we will get there sooner rather than later.
This weekend we welcome Dunfermline Athletic who are putting together a nice little run of results and had a terrific victory against Morton last weekend. A consistent run of positive results can really lift you up the championship table and that's got to be our first aim as a group."
The Team
Lyndon Dykes and Jake Pickard are both still out for this one. We are light on numbers so I've been busy speaking to people with a view of bringing players in quickly. Not to replace the players that we have but to boost the numbers and ease the workload.
The Officials
Referee : John McKendrick
Assistant 1 : Ralph Gordon
Assistant 2 : Martin McCarthy
Dr McKendrick has taken charge of 22 of our games going back almost 10 years. Our record is good, with 12 wins, 5 draws and 5 defeats. In fact, we havent lost in the last 10 games he has refereed, apart from a penalty shoot-out defeat to Hearts in 2013.
The Stats
The league head to heads at Palmerston are quite close with 18 home wins to Dunfermlines 13 and just 5 draws. As with the games at East End Park earlier in the season, very few of these have been in recent history, with the last league meeting at Palmerston taking place in 2011 and the last cup game 1993! There have been just 8 meetings between the sides in Dumfries since the turn of the century, with the away side winning 5, with just 2 home wins and 1 draw.