Heart stopping moments and a rollercoaster ride of emotions come hand in hand with supporting the mighty DA! This, the Pars first European game in 34 years, was no execption!
With manager Davie Hay electing to start the match with the same team that drew 1-1 with Dundee Utd at the weekend, it appeared as though the Pars were intent on using Andy Tod's strength and height up front to unsettle the FH defence.
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The plan seemed to be working, for the first 15 minutes at least, with the Pars, sporting their new red and black away kit, taking control of proceedings in the early stages.
A pacy Barry Nicholson cross in as early as the third minute showed the Pars intentions. The midfielder showed good skill before swinging in a right-footed cross which appeared to unsettle the FH defence.
The Pars continued to press and, in the 9th minute, Gary Dempsey fired in a 20-yard effort, only to see the ball sail tamely wide.
With 15 minutes on the clock, the Icelandic side fired a warning shot to the Pars when Jonas Grani Gardarsson's effort flew narrowly over the bar. The visitor's failed to acknowledge this warning and, in the 19th minute, disaster struck. A mistake by Scott Wilson let in Hallfredsson on the left flank who sent a pin-point cross to GARDARSSON who calmly placed the ball into the net to put the home side in front.
With Davie Hay's men visibly shaken, it went from bad to worse for the Pars when they fell further behind only three minutes later. With the Pars defence all at sea, Stillie dived to make an excellent stop only for Danish striker Allan BORGVARDT to scramble the ball home to give FH a two-goal lead and give the Pars an even bigger mountain to climb.
This had the Pars rattled, Thomson and Mason had lost all control in the middle of the park, Gary Dempsey's first touch had all but dissappeared and the Pars were resorting to long ball game, the kind of tactic that used to grace East End Park in the Bert Paton era.
FH continued to expose the Pars on the counter-attack however the Pars came agonisingly close to pulling a goal back a minute before half-time. An excellent first time cross by Noel Hunt was met by Andy Tod who's header was brilliantly saved by Larusson.
The Pars were in desperate need of a change and at half-time Davie Hay replaced Andy Tod and Gary Dempsey with Craig Brewster and Darren Young - both suprisingly left out of the starting line-up after very impressive substitute appearances against Dundee Utd. The changes almost paid immediate dividends when an excellent move started by Brewster saw Nicholson and Hunt combine to set-up the veteran who's shot was deflected safely into the arms of the FH keeper.
The Pars fate was almost sealed in the 55th minute when FH sub Stefansson capatalised on a Ritchie Byrne mistake to fire a in a shot which rebounded off Derek Stillie's right hand post.
With this tide started to turn with Brewster becoming more and more prominent in every Pars move. Unfortunately for the Pars however, the Finish referee - the same one that allowed Romanian striker Ganea to get away with wrecking John Kennedy's cruciate ligaments in the Scotland-Romania friendily earlier this year - was becoming far more prominent with his ludricous decisions. In the 65th minute Darren Young was awarded a yellow card for complaining about a very soft free-kick given against the Pars.
The Pars were not to be discouraged by the refereeing however, and Gary Mason came close in the 66th minute when he got on the end of Noel Hunt knock-down only to see his shot sail over the bar. Six minute later however, the break through finally came. With the Pars breaking at pace, a tidy move involving Barry Nicholson and Greg Shields saw the latter swing in a tremendous cross which was met by an excellent Craig BREWSTER header which flew across the keeper and into the back of the net to give the Pars a vital away goal.
Far from capitulate, the Icelandic side came straight back at the Pars and saw a 74th minute header hit the underside of the bar as the visitor's were let off once more. Four minutes later, with the Pars in search of an equaliser, Brewster could, an possibly should, have scored his second of the match only for his header to be comfortably saved by Larusson in the FH goal.
The big man found himself in the thick of the action once again in the 83rd minute when he picked up a yellow card simply for returning the ball back to where FH were supposed to take their free-kick, awarded once again in very debatable circumstances.
All poor refereeing thoughts were put to one side in the 87th minute however when the Pars completed a memorable comeback. A Pars corner was poorly dealt with by the FH defence before Andrius SKERLA fired the ball into the net to equlalise for the Pars and send the away support into raptures. The big Lithuanian scorer continued his record of scoring in the Pars big games after his header at Hampden only three months ago.
Although the Pars good work was almost undone in the 89th minute when Stillie spilled a shot in his goalmouth, Skerla putting in the all-important clearance, the Pars held onto a valuable draw - with two away goals in the bag - to put the Pars firmly in the driving seat for the return leg at McDiarmid Park in two weeks time.
Man of the Match - CRAIG BREWSTER - Top Class! I dread to think where the Pars would be without the veteran striker.
PARS - Stillie 7, Shields 7, Byrne 6, Skerla 7, Wilson 6, Nicholson 6, Dempsey 6, (Darren Young H/T) 7, Thomson 6, (Donnelly 70) 5, Mason 6, Hunt 7, Tod 6, (Brewtser H/T) 9.
SUBS NOT USED - Langfield, Labonte, Lyle, Mehmet.
FH - Larusson, Saevarsson, Gardarsson, Nielsen, Bjarnason, Bjornsson, Gardarsson, (Karlov 83), Bett, (Vildarsson 73), Borgvardt, (Stafansson H/T), Gudjonsson, Halfredsson.
SUBS NOT USED - Halldorsson, Astporsson, Bjornsson, Asgeirsson.