The Pars brought in newcomer Scott McCulloch on the left side of defence, Craig Robertson came in at sweeper and David Bingham was on from the start. This meant our Brazilian born star was on the bench for all bar the last 5 minutes.

It was the second outing of the season for the blue away strip, it remains unbeaten and it may be a shame that it will only have one season’s life. Craig Robertson had a good return playing solidly behind the back four, or five even sometimes when Harry Curran lay deep. The inclusion of Bingham from the start certainly brought the best out of the player. The one point to take away from Tannadice was greeted with much more cheer by the away supporters who were also more than happy with the impressive debut from McCulloch.

United had more chances than the visitors but it was Dunfermline who should have had the first opening. A Harry Curran shot was stopped by a United defender’s arm but Willie Young saw no penalty. Both sides had good chances to open the scoring but Dunfermline’s best did not come until the second half when Scott McCulloch drove through the United wall and Dykstra got down to turn the ball past the post.

The United keeper then picked up a pass back to the left of the goal and Greg Shields was touched the resultant indirect free kick but he blasted it just over.

At the other end Westwater was on fine form thwarting a number of United efforts that they might have found easier to convert than to miss. Tommy McLean suggested in his post match interview that only one team competed in the second half. Hardly a justifiable comment for the Pars did attack and might well have given the Arab boss something to really complain about.


DUNFERMLINE: - Ian Westwater, Greg Shields, Scott McCulloch (Steven Welsh 76), Andy Tod, Ivo Den Bieman, Harry Curran, David Bingham (Sergio Duarte 86), Craig Robertson, Andy Smith, Hamish French, Stewart Petrie (G Shaw 82).
Yellow Cards: No Pars
Referee: W Young (Clarkston)
Attendance 6685
League Position 5th
Next match v Rangers (Home) Saturday 13th December 1997