Dunfermline’s 2-1 win over Kelty Hearts was a great game for the neutral.
There was a bit of everything as goals from Nikolay Todorov and Craig Wighton won the game either side of Darren Lyon’s stunning strike.
🎥 𝐇𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭𝐬 🇱🇻
Watch all the key moments from yesterday’s match against @officialdafc .
KHTV is sponsored by @i_scaff_Ltd pic.twitter.com/Yie7tAWhBX
— Kelty Hearts FC 🇱🇻 (@KeltyHeartsFC) October 29, 2022
The win increased the Pars’ lead at the top of League 1 to four points and brought to an end a run of three consecutive victories for Kelty.
Courier Sport looks at some of the talking points from Saturday’s game.
Derby or not, it was a great game
This is not a long-standing rivalry and has been termed a derby recently due to the proximity of the two clubs.
Whether that had anything to do with how both sets of players approached the match, it was an entertaining 90 minutes of football.
Kelty weren’t afraid to take the game to the league leaders and gave as good as they got in the first half.
Frantic and feisty, there were a few tussles and meaty challenges that wouldn’t look out of place in a traditional derby.
Given the poor first half and the nervy end to the game, it may not have been the greatest watch for the Pars support but it was an entertaining match nonetheless.
Kelty can be proud
Much of that is down to John Potter deciding to go toe to toe with Dunfermline.
They came marginally close to opening the scoring through Alfredo Agyeman’s header.
Agyeman hits the bar:
Kallum Higginbotham somehow missed a chance from a few yards out to equalise late on – as Kelty were driven on by Pars favourite Joe Cardle, who came off the bench in the second half.
Higginbotham missed chance:
Soon after he was denied by Deniz Mehmet.
Mehmet saves from Higginbotham:
The Kelty manager said his side must do better defensively but that there were enough positives to take from the match which ended a good run of results.
They also scored the most eye-popping goal of the day through Lyon’s curling left-foot strike.
Dunfermline score team goals
The equaliser may have been the best strike of the afternoon but the Dunfermline goals were commendable for other reasons.
Craig Wighton, who has hit a run of form since his return from injury, cleverly set up Nikolay Todorov for the opener.
Todorov scores:
Wighton now has three goals for the season, all in the last five matches since making his first start following a spell out injured. Todorov has six goals for the season.
The game was ultimately won by Wighton’s second-half goal, rounding off a tremendous move.
Wighton scores:
A great bit of skill amid another well-worked move almost led to a third.
Wighton shows great skill:
Wighton then found himself through on goal after another incisive attack but Darren Jamieson did very well to save from the one-on-one.
Jamieson saves:
Kelty approach leaves more space
In the last two Dunfermline matches the opposition has attacked the Pars more than they have been used to up until now.
Quite the difference from the way Edinburgh – newly rebranded, for the second time this year – went about the match at East End Park.
More adventurous opposition has resulted in more space in the middle of the park.
Chris Mochrie was the best player on the pitch in the defeat to Montrose the previous week.
James McPake explains why he was glad Craig Wighton didn’t score to make Dunfermline win more comfortable https://t.co/3g0BCfYBlx pic.twitter.com/heK98rhIEF
— The Courier Sport (@thecouriersport) October 29, 2022
It took him, and the Pars, a while to get going versus Kelty, whose attacking approach almost had them ahead.
When Mochrie did start to have an effect on the game it was his incisive pass which got his side ahead and another clever pass almost led to a third.
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