DUNFERMLINE are the only team in National League Division Three without a point after suffering their fifth defeat from five games at Dalziel on Saturday.

The clash of the league’s bottom two clubs gave Derek O’Riordan’s men hope that they could arrest their poor run of results but luck once more was not on the young McKane team’s side as the loss of key players from the promotion campaign continues to take its toll.

Their day was summed up towards the end of the first half when after conceding a try to Crawford Reid that looked suspiciously like a knock-on, scrum half Jonny Wieczorek was laid out in the build-up and after a lengthy delay was stretchered from the field.

It has been a tough baptism to life in the National League since promotion and in the early stages of this match in Motherwell Dunfermline found themselves under pressure. Close driving forward play saw them held up over the visitors’ line. They opened their account soon after when Ross Donnachie slid over for an unconverted try but the McKane men responded well, with Fraser Cowe seeing a try chalked off by the referee for a forward pass.

Dunfermline however continued to press and were rewarded when a quickly taken penalty was moved to Liam Quarm who crashed over, with Adam Fraser’s boot adding the conversion.

Good positional kicking then won the visitors a lineout in the home 22 and they moved the ball wide, only for the last pass to go to hand. Dalziel responded however through Reid’s try that provided them with the impetus to take the game to O’Riordan’s side after the interval.

They secured a penalty in front of the posts that was converted by Darren Moon and to add insult to injury, a try from Scott Gracie that appeared to be well-worked after a kick-through from Fraser was chalked off but Dunfermline maintained their attacking threat.

They won a penalty close to the line but chose to run the ball instead of kicking for three points and the home defence held firm. The home side ran out of front row replacements and uncontested scrums became the order of the day, but Dunfermline did convert a penalty award through Fraser’s boot.

As the game descended into a dour struggle without much flair, Dalziel sealed the victory with tries from right winger Andrew Scott and wing forward Reid, the second of which was converted by Moon.

Dunfermline’s quest for their opening points of the season continues on Saturday against fourth-placed East Kilbride at McKane Park. Kick-off is at 3pm.