Dunfermline 0 Partick 0

Last updated : 09 March 2003 By Footymad Previewer

After serving up a total of nine goals in their previous two meetings Dunfermline and Partick suddenly forgot how to find the net in a wretched affair at East End Park.

The Pars have now gone over two months since their last home league win and have slipped fully ten points behind third placed Hearts in the race for a UEFA Cup spot.

Thistle are in the middle of an equally poor run with just one victory in seven outings but at least they edged four points clear of bottom of the table Motherwell.

An accidental clash of heads forced Derek Fleming and Mark McGarty to leave the field for treatment and such was the dire quality of the match that many spectators must have wished that they too could have escaped to the changing rooms.

The swirling Fife wind certainly did not help but neither did the teams who strolled through a game that both needed to win.

What little quality there was in the first half came from Partick with top scorer Alex Burns sneaking in behind the home defence after 12 minutes but seeing his finish blocked by goalkeeper Derek Stillie.

Partick kept pushing and after Gerry Britton had only narrowly failed to find Fleming in acres of space Britton himself almost latched onto a free kick from David Lilley.

The best Dunfermline could manage was a pair of long range free kicks from David Grondin and Ged Brannan, but striker Craig Brewster really ought to have scored with a free header five minutes before half time.

Dunfermline's improvement continued after the break and Grondin provided their best moment of the afternoon with a fierce left-footed drive which Kenny Arthur did well to parry.

Brewster and Scotland forward Steve Crawford both tested Arthur again in the closing stages and Thistle substitute Barry Elliot also went close but both keepers stood firm.