The bedrock of Dunfermline’s success last season was their stingy defence.
A record-breaking number of clean sheets were achieved with Deniz Mehmet between the sticks, leading to an unbeaten season at home, among a few other impressive stats.
This season so far may not look as notable – the Pars recorded their first clean sheet in the Championship this season in the win over Queen’s Park on Saturday.
After the game, manager James McPake told Pars TV: “It’s the first clean sheet in the league this season.
“We believe a lot of the success last season was down to the way we could keep clean sheets and defend as a team.
“So it was good to get back to that.”
Dunfermline’s impressive defensive record
Even going into the weekend’s fixtures, Dunfermline boasted the best defensive record in the Championship outside Dundee United, conceding four goals in their first five.
There have been 11 clean sheets across all 26 Championship matches so far and four of those came on the most recent match day.
There hasn’t been a single 0-0 yet.
Dunfermline’s defensive record is, therefore, more impressive in the context of a high-scoring Championship.
What’s more impressive is the Pars doing so with the disruptions they’ve faced due to injury.
Different DAFC defensive combos
Their SPFL Trust Trophy exit, comfortably at the hand of Dundee United, was understandable given they were without their first- and second-choice goalkeepers and their entire starting back three.
It was another new combination that took to the field at Hampden and kept Queen’s Park – a side tipped to do well this season – at bay on their own patch.
Five different back-three combinations have been used so far, which often have a knock-on effect further up the pitch when Aaron Comrie or Chris Hamilton, sometimes both, drop into defence.
McPake has stuck with the back-three system for most of the calendar year now and it is a sign of how well-drilled his team are in that shape that different players can move around within it.
Signs of improvement in attack for the Pars
The main issue so far this season has been at the other end, but there were encouraging signs in that respect too during Saturday’s win.
Lewis McCann rediscovered his goal-scoring form to net his fourth and fifth goals of the season and Alex Jakubiak made his debut from the bench.
Each week Celtic loanee Ben Summers is improving and he was heavily involved in much of Dunfermline’s good play.
Owen Moffat showed again during a substitute appearance that he also has quality.
It’s been a solid start to the season so far for the Pars and the signs are there that a strong defence can provide a base for their speed and craft to cause damage at the other end.
