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Richard Gough made three changes from the Hearts game. Out went Greg Strong through injury along with Goran Stanic with the same reason and Ferenc Horvath. In came Colin McMenamin, James McPake and Emmanuel Dorado. Also on the bench was Livi two new signings Pascal Nouma and Hassan Kachloul.
As the game started a lot of nerves in the stands and surely amongst the players. Dunfermline threatened first when Andy Tod headed a Derek Young cross against the post. Tod caused problems again when he flicked on a long ball onto Simon Donnelly who’s shot was wide.
Livi had a great chance after 18 minutes when Captain Burton O’Brien latched onto a McMenamin flick on but with the goal at his mercy he some how managed to pull his shot wide from 6 yards out. James McPake had a chance from a corner as he rose above everyone else but his header went narrowly over.
Livi begin to step up the pressure before the break by forcing a lot of corners but to no effect.
Time and time again in this game people like Burton O’Brien and Robert Snodgrass had chances to shoot but instead chose to take all the Dunfermline players on and lose possession.
Livi started the second half better with McPake heading just wide from an O’Brien cross. Also O’Brien ran through the Dunfermline players straight into the box and the Livi captain forced Derek Stille into a smart save.
Also Colin McMenamin ran into the linesman by accident and knocked him off his feet.
In the 72nd minute Livi introduced new signing Pascal Nouma and the big Striker didn’t take long to make an impression when he produced an awful challenge that left some of the home support laughing. But the big striker showed some good touches and looked really good in the air.
Gough introduced the other new signing Hassan Kachloul and within two minutes he made a huge impact. Nouma was fouled 25 yards from goal. Hassan stood over the ball and smacked a curling shoot into the top corner of the net. So if this is the guy not 100 % fit then I can’t wait to see him fully fit.
But within a minute Dunfermline were level. Noel Hunt looking suspiciously offside picked up a Skerla pass and placed the ball beyond Roddy McKenzie.
The home support went ballistic and Gough was raging down at the touchline.
The home support went ballistic and Gough was raging down at the touchline.
In a dramatic finish Darren Young forced a great save from Roddy McKenzie.
Also note that the referee Brian Winter had a shocker of a game. He give Dunfermline the majority of the free kicks and booked three Livi players for one tackle and ignored the Dunfermline players challenges which were repeated over and over again.
After the game I caught up with Richard Gough and he had this to say “ I thought we played all right today. It does feel like a defeat because we lost our lead. But in saying that if we were in Dunfermline’s position and we scored it would feel like a victory. I am confident if we continue to play like that then we should be safe”.
Livingston 1 Dunfermline 1