Goal-scoring captain Josh Falkingham and goalscoring substitute James Thomas admitted they had never seen anything like Saturday’s red-card-strewn League One encounter at East End Park.
Thomas marked his senior debut with a smartly-taken goal barely 15 minutes after replacing his skipper.
Falkingham, by contrast, has seen most things that football has to offer, but even he was astonished by Peterhead’s self-destructive behaviour which led to them being reduced to eight men before half-time had been reached.
The midfielder’s slightly deflected 20-yard drive broke the depleted visitors’ resistance after almost an hour’s play as Dunfermline with Thomas and top scorer Chigozie Ugwu also on target bounced back from last week’s defeat in Greenock with a victory which lifts them to within a point of league leaders Forfar.
“I’ve never seen anything like that!” said Falkingham of an incident-packed first 45 minutes which saw Jamie Redman and captain Steven Noble both given straight red cards for agricultural tackles before Jordan Brown also entered referee Greg Aitken’s notebook after allegedly punching Gregor Buchanan during a bizarre stoppage-time melee beside the corner flag.
“I’ve had players going after me before, but that first half was just crazy.
“The lads told me to keep my head and I did, but their manager was shouting things from the touchline and that just fired their players up.
“I was just happy to get the first goal and open my account for the season, and I was pleased we got the three points because we deserved it.
“We were really disappointed last Saturday, and the manager had a few words during the week, so it’s good to get back to winning ways.
“It might have seemed easy, but it was hard going when they had so many men back behind the ball.”
The points were already safely tucked away by the time Thomas added a cherry on top with his 88th-minute strike, but the under-20 star was justifiably proud of his telepathic interplay with fellow sub Shaun Byrne.
“I’ve been working hard on moving into space off the ball, and it worked out well for me when Shaun found me with a pass,” he recalled.
“We should definitely be winning the game when the other team has three men sent off, but I’m very proud to have got on to make my debut and to score as well, it’s unbelievable!
“I had a big smile on my face when the gaffer said ‘Go on James, get warmed up’.”
While there was no shortage of sinners in the Peterhead ranks, it was impossible not to feel sympathy for goalkeeper Graeme Smith whose heroics meant that ‘only’ three goals resulted from 16 shots on target.
His personal duel with midfielder Ross Forbes and his sweet left foot provided welcome relief from the flashes of violence and red cards.
“We still had a chance when it was 11 v 10, but after half time it was just damage limitation for us,” said Smith.