Scottish League One: Three things we learned as Pars extend lead at the summit
It was another dramatic weekend in Scotland’s third tier as clubs continued to build momentum at the top end of the table…
League leaders cruise past Peterhead to go seven points clear
Dunfermline Athletic 4-0 Peterhead
Goals from Craig Wighton, Matthew Todd, Josh Edwards and Kevin O’Hara saw Dunfermline ease to a resounding victory over basement club Peterhead at East End Park.
Wighton opened the scoring for the home side in the 17th minute, before Todd doubled their advantage going into the break. Edwards tripled their lead in the 76th minute with O’Hara rounding off a comfortable three points in the penultimate minute of normal time.
It is a third consecutive league victory for James McPake’s men and extends their unbeaten run to eight matches. With Edinburgh’s defeat to Alloa Athletic, they are now seven points clear of the third-place Citizens, who have played two games more.
However, it was a miserable afternoon for the Blue Toon who remain rooted to the bottom of the table and go into next weekend’s clash against ninth-place Clyde without a win in 14 league matches.
Dunfermline Athletic assistant manager, Dave Mackay said: “It was difficult conditions, but pleased with the overall performance. We scored some really good goals. If I’m to be a little bit critical, it could’ve been a lot more, especially at the beginning of the second half where we missed some really good opportunities.”
Peterhead manager, David Robertson said: “Our performances have been improving, but let’s see how the next couple of weeks go. We drew 2-2 at East End Park earlier in the season, so we knew it was possible to get a result. I thought we played well in patches, but we are still conceding too many early goals.”
Edinburgh concede second-spot as Alloa return to promotion play-off mix
Alloa Athletic 2-1 Edinburgh
Alloa Athletic extended their unbeaten run to five matches as they edged past Edinburgh at the Indodrill Stadium.
A Conor Sammon double in the 17th and 27th minute respectively had the Wasps in a commanding lead, until John Robertson pulled a goal back for the Citizens eight minutes after the interval, which ultimately proved to be a consolation.
The win for the home side sees them continue their decent form of late with only one defeat in their last 10 league matches as they leapfrog Airdrieonians into fourth. Meanwhile, it is successive defeats for the capital side who fall to third on goal-difference and have lost further ground on the league leaders.
Alloa Athletic manager, Brian Rice said: “It’s a brilliant three points and delighted to get the win. I thought first-half, we looked dangerous in the first 20 minutes and scored two fantastic goals. Fair play to Edinburgh, we knew they’d try and get back into the game and they did. We then had to show our other side, digging in, so, great credit to the lads today.”
Edinburgh manager, Alan Maybury said: “We can’t keep giving teams a head start and try and chase it down. It’s been like that the past couple of weeks, so, it’s something we need to fix. I thought we were really good in the second half and it was only a matter of time before we got a goal, but we just gave ourselves too much to do.”
Falkirk extend unbeaten run as they strengthen promotion push
Falkirk 4-0 Clyde
Falkirk moved into second-place in the league standings with victory over relegation-threatened Clyde at The Falkirk Stadium.
Calumn Morrison opened the deadlock for the Bairns in the 25th minute as the hosts went into the break with a slender lead. Coll Donaldson was then dismissed for the home side in the 57th minute, but despite this, Stephen McGinn doubled their advantage in the 78th minute. There was more drama to come as Morrison’s brace and Rumarn Burrell’s strike heaped more misery on the Bully Wee, who were also reduced to 10-men when Darren Hynes was issued a straight red.
The victory for Falkirk means they are now six games unbeaten and have gained three consecutive league wins for the first time since August. They are now Dunfermline’s nearest challengers and will view the result as vital to their promotion credentials.
Whereas, the Bully Wee remain increasingly isolated at the wrong end of the table with no league win since August and 16 points adrift of safety. Next up for the Hamilton-based club is an away trip to Peterhead, where the stakes cannot be underestimated as defeat will cause them to slip to rock bottom.
Falkirk manager, John McGlynn said: “We were the dominant team for the 90 minutes and my only criticism would be that we didn’t score more goals. We showed a real determination and grit, even when we went down to ten men against their [Clyde’s] eleven, we were the team that created chances. That is three wins in a row for us and we are building a little bit of momentum.”
Clyde manager, Jim Duffy said: “The first half, I felt we were really compact against a very good side, we were disciplined, we had missed a couple of chances and Neil [Parry] didn’t have a whole lot of saves to make. But, our passing and link play was really poor today, which really surprised me, because from a tactical point of view, we were okay.”
Results:
Kelty Hearts 1-1 Airdrieonians
Montrose 1-0 Queen of the South
Scottish League One Table: As It Stands