Dunfermline 0 Morton 1

Dunfermline are safe from relegation despite finishing with 10 men and losing out to a late sucker punch.

They dominated the first half but just couldn’t put the ball in the net and were made to pay when Myles Hippolyte, who had been Athletic’s best player, was adjudged to have shoved Greg Kiltie in the box and the Ton man converted the penalty.

It was their fourth defeat in a row and, pre-match, Dunfermline knew they were in danger of being drawn into the relegation scrap.

Results elsewhere mean they're safe but they made heavy weather of it. 

Hippolyte carried the fight to Morton early on and made room for an effort after Gregor Buchanan gifted him possession 40 yards from goal.

He scuffed that one wide of the target but timed his run perfectly to latch onto Bruce Anderson’s slide rule pass in the 11th minute.

He managed to take the ball round keeper Robby McCrorie but Buchanan had raced back to clear the effort for a corner.

Louis Longridge thumped a shot just too high and his brother, Jackson, had a header saved one-handed under the bar from a pinpoint James Craigen cross as Dunfermline upped the pressure.

There was panic at the back for Ton when a long ball from Ryan Blair saw Anderson easily outpace Buchanan.

McCrorie had charged out of his box and was lucky to dive and head the ball away as the Athletic striker tried to touch it round him.

Hippolyte then did brilliantly to win back possession and set up Louis Longridge on the edge of the box but just as he pulled the trigger Jim McAlistair leapt in to make the block.

In the 38th minute James Vincent had a clear sight of goal after Hippolyte’s approach play and Anderson’s instant touch put him through but he delayed his shot and McCrorie was out quick to parry.

Anderson then decided to go it alone, jinking inside a challenge before hammering a left foot drive that just missed the top corner.

It had been one way traffic, with Dunfermline having the best chances, but putting the ball in the net has been an issue for Crawford’s men with just one goal from their previous three outings.

Morton hadn’t looked like netting but Reece Lyon had Ryan Scully scrambling with a 51st minute half volley that dropped just wide.

A moment of slackness from Jackson Longridge saw him give the ball away and then go into the book for scything down Charlie Telfer as he tried to win the ball back.

Luckily for the defender McAlistair’s header, from the resulting Ton free kick, went soaring over the bar.

The home crowd started to get involved when Anderson had the ball in the net but it was ruled out for a foul on the keeper, who went down all too easily for the Dunfermline faithful.

Vincent lost the ball in the 70th minute and took down Chris Millar as the Greenock men started to threaten and he was fortunate that Telfer’s free kick sailed high over the bar.

James Craigen smacked a poor free kick into the wall after Louis Longridge was brought down and Athletic were then reduced to 10 men.

Jackson Longridge flattened Greg Kiltie in an aerial challenge to pick up his second booking in the 73rd minute.

Morton piled forward, trying to find openings in the home rearguard, and the roof fell in with seven minutes left.

Hippolyte was judged to have shoved Kiltie in the back as they challenged for Tidser’s cross and Kiltie sent Scully the wrong way from the spot.