First Division: Paartalu pops Dunfermline bubble as Morton spring surprise

Published on Sunday 23 November 2008 22:04

WITH St Johnstone idle at the weekend, Dunfermline had the chance to lead the way, however they failed to take it as they went down 1-0 to Morton at East End Park.

The Greenock side's Erik Paartalu grabbed the game's only goal when he blasted home from 20 yards midway through the first half and victory made it four wins out of five games for David Irons' men.

The Pars thought they had equalised when Stephen Glass curled the ball home in the second half, however referee Mike McCurry ruled it out as he felt the former Aberdeen and Hibs midfielder had barged a visiting defender off the ball.

Irons, who gave Allan Jenkins the captaincy of the team for the day to recognise his becoming a father for the first time, said: "We got ahead and then had to survive a bit of an onslaught in the second half."

East End Park boss Jim McInytre said, "We got what we deserved as Morton were the better side. We knew we could have gone top today so I am disappointed especially after battling to get all three points at Livingston last Saturday."

Ross County got a measure of revenge over Airdrie United as they claimed a 2-0 victory in a rematch of last week's ALBA Challenge Cup final. Sean Higgins shot Derek Adams' side ahead in the first half and Richard Brittain doubled their lead midway through the second half in a match watched by only 939 people – Airdrie's lowest crowd of the season.

Kenny Black, the Airdrie manager, admitted afterwards: "It would have been nice for some of the extra fans that supported us last week to come back again. County deserved their win and we will need to lift ourselves for the trip to Morton in midweek."

A victory for Airdrie on Tuesday night will lift them above Morton and send the Greenock men bottom of the table, level with Clyde.

Partick Thistle added to Livingston's problems by winning 2-1 at Firhill. Ian McCall's side collected their third straight victory thanks to Stephen McKeown's goal just before the break. Livi's Dave MacKay had earlier scored from the penalty spot to cancel out Liam Buchanan's headed opener, and the result moves Thistle into third place in the table.

"We played some great stuff especially in the first half when Simon Donnelly was outstanding," said McCall. "Their penalty was an unbelievably bad decision as there was no contact but thankfully it did not affect the result."

Calum Elliot had won the penalty when it was judged that Ian Maxwell had fouled the striker in the box, although those who doubted referee Chris Boyle's decision were convinced it was wrong when the on-loan Hearts man was yellow-carded for diving a couple of minutes later.

Landi dismissed speculation about the Almondvale club's finances, saying: "There are no problems at Livingston apart from missing good players through injury."

Clyde moved off bottom spot with a fine 2-0 win at Queen of the South, who have now lost five out of the six games they have played since topping the league at the end of the first quarter. Striker Pat Clarke grabbed a double last week against St Johnstone, and he repeated that feat at Palmerston with two second-half goals taking the points back to Broadwood.

Clarke netted his first in 55 minutes when he took advantage of a run and cross from Willie McLaren to score, and secured the points when he shot past Cammy Bell with seven minutes to go to leave manager John Brown beaming. "We defended well throughout so I am very pleased," said Brown.

Queens managers Gordon Chisholm said: "As soon as we went a goal down the player's heads went down and there was only going to be one winner."