St Johnstone 0 - 1 Dunfermline: New boys add winning ugly to growing list of talents

The Fifers, in fact, have yet to taste defeat. After a lucky escape against St Mirren on their opening day, they sacrificed one of the two wingers who thrived in the First Division last season, and are now showing the kind of street wisdom seldom seen in newly-promoted sides. In this one, Paul Gallacher pulled off his second penalty save of the season after an incident for which John Potter was sent off, but the players in front of him deserved just as much praise.

Their resolute defending ensured that Dunfermline's 16-year unbeaten league record in Perth remains intact. "Defensively, we were excellent," said Jim McIntyre, their manager. "It is a hard shift when you are a man down and put under so much pressure. It's nice to do the dirty side of the job as well, but we did that a few times last season. Everybody thinks that we played with two wingers every week, but when the pitches were poor, we changed our system."

Of course, their victory has to be placed in the context of St Johnstone's continued goalscoring problems. After netting only 23 times last season, they are still without a goal this term, a statistic Liam Craig's missed penalty only underlined.

With three strikers in their starting line-up, St Johnstone had promised so much more. Cillian Sheridan was through the middle, Carl Finnigan in support and Marcus Haber wide on the right, all of whom gave them plenty of pace and power, as well as an aerial threat that unsettled their visitors in the early stages. Finnigan looked to have put them in front when he rose above the goalkeeper and headed into the far corner, but it later transpired that he had used a hand, an offence for which he was quickly yellow-carded. The Dunfermline defence also looked static when David McCracken met Liam Craig's corner on the edge of the six-yard box, but the strong, downward header was blocked on the line by Gallacher.

Finnigan had a snap shot over the top during an opening half hour in which St Johnstone looked the brighter of the two sides, but a goal at the other end changed everything. Joe Cardle's short corner culminated in a chance just outside the penalty area for Jason Thomson, who had more time and space than he could possibly have hoped for. When the full-back, on loan from Hearts, slapped a low shot across a crowded box, Kirk turned it in from five yards to claim his fourth goal of the season. He may not be the most gifted forward in the SPL, but he knows where the posts are.

The confidence with which they had started the game quickly drained from the Perth side. The best chance was at the other end when Martin Hardie rose at the back post to head wide a corner by Cardle. By the time Sheridan was miscontrolling a long ball from the back, Derek McInnes, the St Johnstone manager, had seen enough, promptly hauling off the striker. Francisco Sandaza, the former Dundee United player, was given his debut, and required only five minutes of it to make a difference. Wriggling free of his marker in the box, he fell over Potter's trailing leg, and won a penalty. George Salmond, the referee, controversially ruled that a clear goalscoring opportunity had been denied, which meant that Potter was given a straight red. As the defender made his excuses and departed, Sandaza and Liam Craig argued over who should take the spot-kick. McInnes indicated that the ball should be given to Craig, his team's regular penalty-taker, which later left him with some explaining to do. The shot was crisp and low to the goalkeeper's left, but Gallacher was down quickly enough to parry with his hands. He later revealed that it was the third time he had saved a penalty by Craig. "I don't know yet what Francisco is like at penalties," said McInnes.

However insulted St Johnstone were by this latest setback to their cause, the numerical advantage at least gave them licence to attack. Kevin Moon's shot was comfortably saved, as was Sandaza's weak header, and when David Robertson came on for the ineffectual Haber, the substitute's front-post header flashed across the face of goal. Murray Davidson had the chance of the match when Sandaza's flick picked him out in the box, but his header was straight at the goalkeeper. "I'm disappointed with the result, but not the performance," said McInnes. "We were the dominant side from the off. The turning point was the penalty. If we had scored that, we would have got a lot of momentum and confidence and maybe gone on to win."