GUARDIAN THISTLE 2, DUNFERMLINE 2

CA DE RISSI - Dunfermline surrendered a two-goal lead in the Scottish derby against title holders Guardian Thistle, and are now left in the balance, needing a victory in the final group game, against group leaders Grifone 2007, in order to make sure of qualification to the knockout stages.
The game wasn't a pretty watch at all, with both sides failing to create many openings and a referee whose repeated whistles often disrupted the flow of the game.

Vanin deployed Perugini in goal, while Ducco eventually made his debut for the Pars, and was paired to Frassinelli in defence. Marletta was in the middle of the park, with Bovalino and Cantelli either side of him and Rossi completed the starting lineup in the striker position.
The match appeared patchy from the start, with little space for moves and a general refusal, on both ends, to take the flow of play to the opponents.
Perugini survived a major scare as an innoucuous ball bounced past him and hit the crossbar, but soon after that Dunfermline took the lead.
Rossi and Cantelli combined on the right flank and the latter played a square ball towards the middle of the box, but a Thistle defender turned the ball past his own keeper with an unlucky touch.
Having taken the lead, Dunfermline were expected to relax and start playing some attractive fixture, which didn't happen, though, as distances between defence, midfield and the striker looked too big.
From a counter attacking move, though, Frassinelli managed to feed the ball into the path of Cantelli, with the influential No 6 taking his time on the ball before dispatching a fierce effort Thistle keeper failed to deal with, thus gifting the Pars a confidence-igniting two-goal lead.
At that stage, the Pars were in the driving seat but started faltering even more in their game plan, and while no signs of reaction looked upcoming on Thistle side, they still managed to reduce their arrears as a free-kick on the edge of the box was played with a pass which, as often has been the case recently, left the Pars' wall and defenders on the wrong foot, with Guardian No 77 coolly slotting home.

HALF TIME: Guardian Thistle 1, Dunfermline 2

Proceedings were resumed and Merello was given his debut as well, as Vanin replaced the injured Frassinelli with the former Never Alone man, while Finotti came on for Rossi, and Cantelli was moved upfront.
Again, Dunfermline did themselves no favours at all, as they kept on going for a very direct, too direct perhaps, approach, involving long balls thrown upfront, with no real attempt to play the ball as much as their players' ablities would suggest.
Even so, they managed to hold on to the positive results, although the main threats came from Thistle, with Perugini, in his best form, saving from a close range effort before Merello produced a miracle of a defensive block as he denied a certain goal to Arbore, turning the ball around for a corner in what had appeared an open goal.
Minutes before the final whistle Rossi, who had been re-introduced for Bovalino, was blatantly brought down in the box, but the ref somehow tethered under pressure and failed to award the penalty kick, which was always going to be such.
Few seconds later, at the other end, Dunfermline eventually squandered their advantage, as the ball eluded Marletta and Perugini's control, with the captain trying to save on the line, which he appeared to have done, although the man in black adjudged the ball to have completely crossed the line and therefore awarded the goal.
Dunfermline will now need to step it up against Grifone 2007, if they're to have a good chance of progressing to the next round.

FULL TIME: Guardian Thistle 2, Dunfermline 2


DUNFERMLINE
1 Perugini
14 Ducco
10 Frassinelli (4 Merello)
11 Bovalino
5 Marletta (c)
6 Cantelli
7 Rossi (15 Finotti)

MANAGER: Vanin
SCORERS: Own Goal (0-1), Cantelli (0-2)
CAUTIONS: Rossi (Y)


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