Pars in Peril

The fourth official held up the board. SIX minutes.

The most surprising thing about the amount of time added on was that no-one in the ground was surprised.

There were no signs of protest from the away dugout; Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre stood, arms folded, face impassive. He knew as well as anyone that his side had done everything that was possible to slow the game down, waste time, extend stoppages. Entire civilizations have risen and fallen in the time taken to make a single substitution. As early as the 55th minute, his goalkeeper had been given the ball back after an injury stoppage...and promptly refused to pick it up until an opposing player had sprinted fifty yards to hurry him up.

All this might have been excusable had it not been for the fact that it was not at Ibrox or Celtic Park that Dunfermline were clinging onto a precariously 1-0 lead in the fourth round of the Scottish Cup. Rather, it was a Caley Thistle side who had been reduced to ten men for an hour, with the Pars scoring from the free kick that followed Kenny Gillet's red card. Most teams, especially when they already had two strikers on the pitch, and two wingers as well, would have kept the ball, stretched the play, and worn the opposition down. Dunfermline instead stuck nine players behind the ball, and showed no inclination to press for a decisive second goal. They gambled everything on Inverness lacking the ingenuity, or energy, to break them down, but they did not reckon against the footballing gods displaying a rare sense of justice to go to their dark sense of humour.

Four of the six added minutes had elapsed when keeper Chris Smith came out of his area to deal with a long punted clearance from the Caley backline. TV pictures are inconclusive as to whether the ball took a bobble; there is no doubt that Smith's right leg swung so wildly that he might have had his eyes closed. His foot missed its target by more than a few centimetres. Inverness winger Jonny Hayes, closing him down more out of hope than expectation, couldn't believe his luck, tapping into an empty net to earn his team an unlikely replay next week.

If Dunfermline were looking for some solace from a league campaign where, after going unbeaten for their opening four matches, they have picked up just six out of a possible forty-eight, they did not find it. They might not have lost in the Highlands, but its fair to suspect that, once the players had returned to the dressing room, it felt like a defeat.

How things have changed since May, when they were first division champions and returned to the SPL after four seasons in the second tier. They hardly played like Barcelona, but McIntyre had established a philosophy of passing football, and stuck to it even as fans grew impatient over a failure to challenge for promotion in his first two full seasons in charge. Last Spring's success seemed to justify the actions of the manager, and his chairman John Yorkston.

But, in my season preview, I wrote "Dunfermline's problem is that that their squad is based around several players who have SPL experience...but were simply not good enough the last time round". And, so far, they haven't been up to the task this time round either; the exception, goalkeeper Paul Gallacher, will miss the rest of the season with a shoulder injury. His understudy, Smith, proved himself unreliable even before this weekend's match when he punched a corner into his own net in a game against St Johnstone.

The defence has not been helped by the injury that has sidelined centre-back Kevin Rutkiewicz for the entire campaign so far, but even his presence would not alleviate the horrendous lack of pace or mobility in the back line. The midfield, like last season, depends almost entirely on the 35 year old (and increasingly fragile) Martin Hardie for its engine. Most damningly, McIntyre's marquee summer signing, Ross County striker Andy Barrowman, has failed to shed the reputation he acquired during 18 months as Caley Thistle's highest paid player, when he managed only three goals and earned a reputation for being lazy and for shirking a battle. His tap-in from a goalkeeping gaffe on Saturday was, remarkably, his first goal from open play in Inverness; he had scored only a penalty in seventeen games playing at home for Caley Thistle.

Gone is the passing game. Even when a man to the good on Saturday, and with two wingers on the pitch (in fact, David Graham and Joe Cardle might be the club's two outstanding players), there was nothing but long balls up the middle; in the end, there were more hoofs than at the Grand National (I'll get me coat). To go along with that was a deeply cynical edge - the only thing that they have perfected to a tee appears to be the tactical foul. Those hardy supporters who had travelled 150 miles to sit in the away end on a dreich Highland Saturday must have been in need of an intravenous infusion of antidepressants by the end.

And, to cap it all, there appears to be precious little cash to spend in the January window. Chairman Yorkston has already admitted that the club overbudgeted, expecting an average attendance far higher than the current 5300 total. They didn't even have the finance to keep on-loan Hearts full-back Jason Thomson after his deal expired at the beginning of this month. McIntyre needs to get players through the exit door in order to get new faces in, and his success in touting his reserves to first division clubs (and in persuading them to go) might make all the difference.

He also desperately needs his first team to do the job properly when they face Inverness all over again next midweek, in a replay that should never have happened. A win and a cup run might just bring a little bit of confidence back. For, if Dunfermline continue to play like this, they are certs for relegation. And if they continue in their current style, no-one will miss them.

L.