Published: Thursday, 27th November, 2008 3:40pm

Dunfermline up to third despite poor performance

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Dunfermline 19 Irvine 7

DUNFERMLINE jumped two places to third with a stuttering performance at McKane Park.

Their indifferent early-season league form littered with individual errors returned to haunt them on Saturday and, coupled with a poor showing at the set piece, the home team did well to score their three tries.

A slick turnover from the home team led to the opening try.

Wayne Barr sucked in a couple of defenders to let Scott Swankie show his running skills to skip past the final couple of defenders to touchdown. Ally O"Connor added the extras.

Minutes later, Dunfermline produced the best piece of play of the half when a spell of good rucks saw the ball spun through a couple of sets of hands to full back O"Connor, who raced in for the second try.

Dunfermline extended their lead further when, this time, he was unable to convert.

Dunfermline started the second half well when scrum half Johnny Bruton exploited some poor blind side defence and scampered in from 40 metres out.

O"Connor converted and the home crowd waited to watch their team race away with the match and secure the bonus point try.

However, the next 20 minutes saw Irvine exploit some poor decision-making by the home team which allowed them to mount attack after attack and totally subdue Dunfermline.

Despite some excellent defending, the home side succumbed eventually to a score that Irvine fully deserved.

This sprung Dunfermline into action as they tried desperately to score that elusive fourth try, however more error-strewn rugby and a lack of patience saw the game end disappointingly, despite the win.

This weekend the promotion charge heads back to Ayrshire for the third time this season for a fixture with Garnock (kick-off 2pm).