DUNFERMLINE Athletic picked up three points and made a welcome return to scoring form with a 2-0 win away at Airdrieonians this afternoon.

Goals from Moffat and Byrne gave the visitors a comfortable lead while the team also secured their sixth league clean sheet in a row.

The Pars burst into life early on in the match when a header from Moffat put them ahead in the seventh minute. Wallace's cross from the right found McCabe, who nodded the ball on and allowed Moffat to direct it past Parry in the Airdrie goal.

It was the visitors who saw most of the ball in the opening stages, looking comfortable in possession and getting forward without really troubling the goalkeeper. Airdrie found themselves on the back foot and although Cadden showed some tricky footwork to dodge past several Pars players in the 20th minute, his chip towards goal was easily mopped up by Richards-Everton.

Dunfermline continued to press for a second goal and had a chance when Wallace somehow got on the end of a long cross-field pass from Talbot. He managed to find El Bakhtaoui but the striker could only snatch at the chance and his shot went wide of the target. Just after the half-hour mark, a wayward Airdrie clearance fell to Wallace outside the box but again the effort was sent past the post.

Geggan found himself booked in the 39th minute after bringing down Cadden in the middle of a bursting run down the left. The resulting free kick did nothing to trouble the Pars, however, and gave them the opportunity to break through Moffat. He slipped a pass through to El Bakhtaoui but the striker's shot was immediately blocked, sending the ball out for a corner.

The Pars took a deserved lead into the second half, with Airdrie failing to test Murdoch at all in the opening 45 minutes, and made a change at half time, with Byrne replacing McCabe.

The substitution proved to be an inspired one as Byrne doubled Pars' lead in the 54th minute, a neat passing interchange between him and Wallace setting him up to slide a low shot past the keeper from the middle of the box.

Airdrie made a change of their own three minutes before the hour mark, with Hunter coming on in place of Smith. The hosts were still struggling to find a foothold in the game while the Pars were looking more comfortable than ever thanks to their two-goal lead. Cadden looked their most likely threat but even he struggled to make Murdoch work with a long-range effort which went wide in the 78th minute.

The Pars were still after that third goal and El Bakhtaoui seemed to be through in the 83rd minute after an Airdrie defensive error but keeper Parry rushed out of his box to clear the danger. Two minutes later, Byrne took advantage of a short corner taken quickly to send a curling effort towards goal, but Parry managed to tip it over for another corner.

Airdrie made a double substitution in the final minutes of the match but it was not enough to make a difference against a dominant Pars side who put in a professional performance to take all three points.

Pars: Murdoch, Martin, Talbot, McAusland, Richards-Everton, Geggan, Paton, McCabe, Moffat, El Bakhtaoui, Wallace

Subs: Hutton, Spence, Falkingham, Hopkirk, Rooney, Byrne, Antoine-Curier

Airdrie: Parry, O'Neill, Van Zanten, Fitzpatrick, Crighton, Lithgow, Bain, Watt, Smith, Cox, Cadden

Subs: Ferguson, McAleer, Morgan, Hunter, Morton, McBride, Stewart

Referee: Brian Colvin

Attendance: 1,371