Pars 1-0 Peterhead

LEAGUE ONE champions Dunfermline ended their season with a flourish by beating Peterhead this afternoon.

On the day that the Pars finally got their hands on the trophy, Joe Cardle's 14th goal of the campaign gave them their 24th victory on league business and wrap up a superb first season in charge for Allan Johnston.

His team have hit 83 league goals, conceded just 30 and have simply been unstoppable since pulling clear in top spot in December.

The game was merely a prelude to the main event of Andy Geggan and Callum Fordyce hoisting aloft the trophy but Athleic boss Johnston was determined that his team go out on a high note.

Although he was without the injured Michael Paton, he fielded the majority of the players who have been regular picks in their march to the Championship, but there was no place in the starting line-up for top scorer and talisman Faissal El Bakhtaoui.

The 30-goal hitman's future remains uncertain, as does that of several of his team-mates, but this afternoon was an opportunity for both the players and supporters to enjoy their achievement.

A crowd of 6236 packed into a sun bathed East End Park and they were in party mode ahead of kick-off.

Led by Geggan, the Pars were afforded a guard of honour by their opponents and they entered into a wall of noise and colour, helped in spectacular fashion by pre-match fireworks.

With the normally closed East Stand open to home fans, the afternoon had the feeling of a special day for the club and Dunfermline almost made a dream start inside three minutes.

Josh Falkingham, whose own contract situation is still to be resolved, received a pass inside the area from Craig Reid and drove the ball across the face of goal, but it was just too pacy for the onrushing Michael Moffat to connect.

The game struggled to get going in the opening quarter; Ryan Wallace sent a free-kick well wide for the Pars while Leighton McIntosh hit the side net for Peterhead after being set up well by Simon Ferry and Shane Sutherland.

But in the 17th minute, the goal the home faithful wanted arrived and it encapsulated the sparkling football played by Johnston’s team all season.

From Reid’s throw in on the right, Wallace did well to bustle his way inside the area before playing a clever reverse pass into the feet of Cardle, who made no mistake in coolly slotting beyond Graeme Smith from eight yards.

Yet it was a more direct route that created controversy in the 26th minute when Wallace was sent charging towards the box, only to be clattered by the charging Smith. Referee John Beaton deemed the foul to have taken place inches outside the box, and the Blue Toon keeper was fortunate not to only receive a yellow card.

The pace of the game, perhaps to be expected, slowed as the half wore on with a lot of scrappy play in midfield but no real goal threat.

In a rare foray into Pars territory, the visitors fashioned a half chance five minutes before the break when Sutherland slipped the ball into Jordon Brown’s path at the edge of the area, but his curling effort failed to trouble Sean Murdoch.

The second half was barely two minutes old when he cries of “bring on Bakhtaoui” could be heard but the small knot of Peterhead fans almost had reason to celebrate moments later when Murdoch did well to push Brown’s goal-bound header over the top.

Clamour to see Dunfermline’s French-Moroccan magician in action continued to grow but the starting front two of Wallace and Moffat almost provided a second goal on the hour mark.

From a Peterhead corner that saw Jamie Redman have a shot blocked, the Pars broke at searing pace and Wallace sent the ball through for Moffat, who beat the onrushing Smith to it but poked the ball just wide of goal.

There was little on the field to excite the fans, who continued to sing for their hero and top scorer to make an appearance, but Brad McKay did have a sight at goal when he headed a Wallace free-kick off target with 20 minutes to go.

There was an even better chance for Wallace minutes later. The former East Fife man fashioned it himself, using his body well to shrug off the attentions of Redman, before cutting in on his right foot and curling the ball not far wide from the edge of the area.

Dunfermline were in the mood now and Wallace was at the heart of their next move, finding Moffat who in turn centred for Cardle but he couldn’t generate enough power to trouble the goalkeeper.

The winger then sent a fizzer just over the top and then, in the 76th minute, East End rose as one and gave El Bakhtaoui a thunderous welcome as he replaced Ryan Wallace.

Having hogged the headlines by hitting 30 goals this season, he almost turned provider with eight minutes left with a neat backheel into Cardle, who was unfortunate not to feed Moffat for a shot at goal.

He did have pop at goal himself in the 87th minute from a free-kick that the Peterhead wall deflected to safety, but there was to be no final moment of personal glory.

Instead, he was able to celebrate lifting the trophy with his team-mates amidst joyous and emotional scenes all around the famous old stadium.

Pars: Murdoch, Reid, Talbot, McKay, Richards-Everton, Geggan, Hopkirk, Falkingham, Moffat, Wallace, Cardle.

Subs: Byrne, El Bakhtaoui, Rooney, McCabe, Williamson, Crossan, Hutton.

Peterhead: Smith, Ferry, Noble, Dzierzawski, Strachan, Stevenson, Redman, McIntosh, Sutherland, Riley, Brown.

Subs: Blockley, Lawrence, Rodgers.

Referee: John Beaton.

Attendance: 6236.