DUNFERMLINE v ABERDEEN - Match Preview

Calderwood gets ready to return to East End Park yet again.

Yes, in the lead up to the last home game against Aberdeen we were all looking ahead to what promised to be one of the best seasons in recent years for our beloved club. Oh how times have changed! Humiliated in Europe, fighting a relegation battle, out of both cups without so much as a whimper, I’m sure you’ll be able to forgive me for being slightly downbeat about the remainder of the season. It was something of a carnival atmosphere the last time we came up against the Dons on Martin O’Neill’s favourite surface. The sun was beating down, the stadium was relatively full and the walking-talking Sunbed and his sidekick Schnorbitz made their much-publicised return to East End. This Saturday promises to be a match between two out-of-form teams played out in front of a half-full stadium under a cover of torrential rain and a biting wind. Whoopdee doo!
Pessimism of the highest order may be the order of the day in this lad’s mind just now but if you were one of the 2000 or so loyal Pars fans to pay twenty quid to turn out, hangover and all, to watch that bile on Sunday then you’d be feeling pretty bloody depressed aswell. It seems to be imprinted somewhere in the genes that if you’re a Scot then all you demand from your team is 100% commitment, fight and guts, you can’t ask for more. When you get none of these qualities until the second-half – when the game was more than finished – it sticks in the throat somewhat.

Some have claimed that the wheels have come off of the Calderwood bandwagon up at Pittodrie these days. Christ, sitting in a comfortable fifth position within touching distance of a European spot that is bad. It really makes you appreciate just how lucky we Pars fans actually are…aye right! Sitting 15 points ahead of us in fifth spot, Calderwood’s Dons side’s season could hardly have been more of a contrast to the campaign at East End this season. Even Darren Mackie has looked half-decent for god’s sake! Played two, lost two against Aberdeen this season doesn’t exactly make pretty reading does it, and it certainly doesn’t intimate a desire to ‘get one over’ our previous manager. In fact after the last performance against Aberdeen at Pittodrie the only question we need to ask this time around is ‘would you like us to bend over?!’ Despite a late rally against the Dons on the 13^th of November, it was a case of 2-1 going on 8-1 for Calderwood’s side in yet another embarrassing away trip for a small, but loyal Pars support – having said that the away support that day, no matter how miniscule in numbers, was no doubt bigger than Sunday’s abysmal home support!

After Sunday’s excuse of a performance against the cup holders Celtic, the only injuries that the Pars should be suffering entering this weekend’s crucial encounter should be that of bruised egos and battered pride. Something which almost every single Pars player – except possibly Derek Stillie and Greig Ross – should be suffering from. Looking unfit and off-the-pace from the word go, Scott Wilson’s injury in the second-half could well rule the big defender out of this Saturday’s match possibly meaning an Andy Tod-Andrius Skerla centre pairing. With every single fixture adopting the ‘crucial’ tag from now until the end of the season in what is undoubtedly a relegation battle, the loss of form for key players cannot be tolerated such is the size of our squad. Disappointing then that players such as Makel, Nicholson and – much more surprisingly – Skerla failed to perform on Sunday. With the quality of all three players – although I am far from convinced as to the ability of Lee Makel! – needed in the arduous weeks and months ahead, all we can hope for is a very sharp return to form from pivotal players such as the trio.

Some call Davie Hay boring, predictable, and as transparent as an open book. Well this might be the case with his pre or post-match interviews (resolve, commitment blah, blah, blah) but it certainly is not the case with regards to his tactics. The deployment of Barry Nicholson as a forward against Celtic’s giant defence on Sunday was, lets just say, odd! For odd, also read the decision to withdraw Darren Young from play at half-time. Although the midfielder has been going through a slump in form as of late, I doubt few would question the fact that Daz was our best midfielder in the first-half – he was certainly better than the lacklustre Makel that’s for sure! So this Saturday expect a 3-6-1 formation with Derek Stillie marking Chris Clark on the left-wing and Barry Nicholson being used as the target man up against Zander and Russell at the heart of the visitors’ defence.

I’ve tried to stay positive, honest to god I have. Many other Pars fans – many of whom were on Hay’s back – had also decided to award Hay more time in his attempt to get it right on the park after a fairly successful Fans Forum seemed to indicate that Hay, Kirkwood et al had the club’s best interests at heart. But by god, my patience is wearing very, very thin. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel against Dundee Utd. We played decent football, attacked the visitors with a purpose and looked to be turning things around. Now instead of a light all I can see is next season’s fixture list with our name up against the likes of Airdrie Utd and St.Mirren! Come on lads, give us something to shout about this Saturday…and I don’t mean calling for Hay’s head!