Years spent languishing in the first division were hard to take. Ian Munro's reign at the club was quite simply horrendous, Jocky Scott's time as manager was just as bad - remember losing 2-0 to Cowdenbeath at East End! We've had to endure years spent as a yo-yo club, the long-ball style, and more recently the defection of our manager to a so-called 'bigger' club!
34 years worth of bad memories were forgotten however when the Pars took to the field against FH Hafnarfjordur in the UEFA Cup on Thursday night. The years of wait were over, the Pars were back in Europe.
So it makes it all that much harder when your dream is ended so swiftly by such a gutless performance.
After the dramatic first-leg comeback it seemed as though the hard work had already been done. Oh how wrong we were!
With just the one change from Saturday's game against Aberdeen, Derek Young replacing Simon Donnelly, the Pars lined up in what appeared to be a 4-5-1 formation. With Noel Hunt and Derek Young deployed on the wings, it was left to 38 year-old Brewster to play up front on his own. Anyone spot the flaw with this plan?
The Pars started as they have done in most games this season in taking the game to the opposition. Long range efforts in the early stages from both Darren Young and Craig Brewster threatened the visitor's goal. However the Pars first clear cut chance was to come in the 6th minute when Andrius Skerla came close with a header. Almost immediately after Derek Young was next to threaten with a long range effort which crept just wide.
The Pars continued to attack the Icelandic goal with Gary Dempsey coming close with a 12th minute volley after a Brewster knock-down. Five minutes later a Skerla clearance from a FH corner found Noel Hunt out on the right-wing, the young Irishman ran at pace towards the visitor's defence before being crowded out by a ruck of FH defenders.
Darren Young was next to worry the FH keeper when his right-footed effort from the edge of the box flew just over the bar. Dempsey and, again, Darren Young tested the keeper minutes later with strikes from, once again, just outside the area. The best chance of the first-half came on the half-hour mark when Hunt found himself inside the FH area with the ball at his feet, however as so often has been the case this season, the youngster failed to find the composure to put the Pars in the lead.
With the home side - a term used very loosely - firmly in control of the proceedings, the first half frittered out to a goalless finish. With the Pars determined to get on the scoresheet in order to put the tie to bed, they started the second-half with the same philosophy as they had the first, attacking the visitor's from the off. A Craig Brewster header from a Derek Young cross in the 47th minute was well saved by Dadi Larusson in the FH goal. Soon after a clever move involving Hunt and Brewster found Darren Young whos shot was again well saved.
With FH coming more and more into the game, a quick Noel Hunt breakaway in the 57th minute saw the Irishman's shot blocked by Tommy Nielsen in the FH defence. Two minutes later the Pars were hit with one hell of a wake-up call when Emil Hallfredsson's thirty-yard drive rebounded off Stillie's bar, surely a timely reminder to the Pars players that there were two teams in the game. The Pars seemed to take heed of this warning and hit back with yet another Darren Young strike, the shot creeping just wide.
With the Pars attacks gaining momentum the long-awaited break through came in the 72nd minute thanks to a Gary DEMPSEY volley from twelve yards out. An excellent over lapping run from Greg Shields down the right wing led to the right-back swinging in an excellent first time cross, with Brewster putting the keeper under pressure the ball broke free to Gary Dempsey who crashed the ball into the net to send McDiarmid Park jubilant. Surely the Pars couldn't through it away now!
The Pars could have added to their lead with ten minutes remaining when Larusson flapped at a Shields cross only for the Pars strikers to, yet again, fail to capatalise on the mistake. Then it all went horribly wrong!
A routine cross into the box was poorly dealt with by Andrius Skerla of all people who hashed his clearance only for BJORNSSON to bundle the ball into the net from a blatantly offside position.
Although the Pars players were clearly rattled, they only had seven more minutes to hold onto their UEFA Cup first round place, a bit of discipline was all that was required. Discipline that sadly wasn't found when the Pars conceded a corner in the last minute. A high looping corner into the box was shockingly dealt with by the Pars defence before FH defender Tommy NIELSEN controlled the ball with - what looked like - his hand before firing the ball into the net to send the Pars embarrasingly crashing out of the competition.
An absolute disgrace! A Pars team, littered with international players were beaten by a team littered with plumbers, mechanics and students.
Pars fans once again saw the kind of performance typical of Davie Hay's reign at the club, a gutless performance with no finished article and no tactical sense. Under Hay, the Pars have become a long-ball side with no confidence and drive. Players such as Greg Shields, Gary Dempsey and Noel Hunt - after good seasons last year - have all had the confidence drained from their game for some reason or another. Shields at times looked desperate in his defending when up against Hallfredsson, Dempsey seems to have lost all sense of position, and Hunt's confidence in front of goal is all but gone.
Hay is constantly being out-thought by his opposing managers in terms of both tactics and personnel. His last ditch substitutions - when he makes them - are just that, last ditch, in the last few seconds with no time to impact the game at all.
The most frightening thing is Davie Hay and his coaching staff have taken a very good group of players and turned them into a shadow of the Pars team last season.
Five matches gone - bottom of the league and out of Europe.
TIME TO GO DAVIE! TIME TO GO!!!
Man Of The Match - DARREN YOUNG - At times Darren looked like the only Pars player on the pitch with any quality at all.
PARS - Stillie 5, Shields 5, Thomson 6, (Byrne 85) 5, Wilson 5, Skerla 6, Darren Young 8, Mason 5, (Tod 92) 4, Derek Young 6, (Donnelly 85) 4, Dempsey 5, Hunt 6, Brewster 7.
SUBS NOT USED - Langfield, Lyle, Labonte, Mehmet.
BOOKED - Gary Dempsey (89)
FH - Larusson, Saevarsson, Gardarsson, Nielsen, Bjarnason, Hallfredsson, Gardrson, (Asgirsson 67), Bett, Borgvardt, Gudjonsson, (Vitarsson 80), Stefansson, (Bjornsson 76).
SUBS NOT USED - Halldorsson, Leilson, Karkov, Olafson.
REFEREE - Attila Hanacsek (HUN)
Att - 7189