Dunfermline Athletic v Forfar Athletic – match preview

Following on from their excellent second round success at Kilwinning, the ‘Loons’ now make the shorter trip on Saturday to face cinch league1 leaders Dunfermline Athletic in the third round of the Scottish Cup.

It will in fact be the first meeting between the clubs in the national cup competition for thirty years, the home side winning a replay 3-1 at East End Park on that occasion.

It will also be the first competitive meeting of the sides since 2016, although of course they did ‘cross swords’ in a pre-season clash back in late June.

The ‘Loons’ will go into the game buoyed by the performance at Dumbarton last Saturday where despite being down to ten men early in the second period,  they deservedly headed home with a point from their clash with the league leaders.

Manager Ray McKinnon certainly does not see the cup tie as a distraction from the important matter of gaining league points.

He sees Saturday’s tie as a great opportunity for his players to test themselves against a full time outfit obviously going well in their own league with an unbeaten home record to date this term in all competitions.

The bottom line is that Ray will be putting a team on the park with the intention of giving a good account of themselves and hopefully producing what would be on paper a major cup upset at this stage of the competition.

There are no fresh injuries to report, with Darren Whyte pushing for a starting berth.   Callum Moore has returned to training and could come into contention for a place in the match day squad come Saturday week.

Kyle Hutton is available as his one match ban following last weekend’s red card has to be served in an SPFL  fixture.   Disappointingly Roberto Nditi will also miss the visit of Albion Rovers as he breached the six booking threshold into the bargain in the clash with the ‘Sons.’

As for the ‘Pars’ under the management these days of James McPake, they will go into the game brimful of confidence as they sit seven points clear of Falkirk and Edinburgh FC at the top of the league one table.

Last Saturday goals from Matthew Todd and Chris Mochrie clinched a 2-0 success up at Peterhead, but the previous week they had to fight back to clinch a 2-2 draw at home with Clyde.

Sam Fisher will be a familiar face to the travelling support, this on the presumption that his parent club have given permission for the defender to continue his partnership at the heart of the Fifers defence with the experienced Kyle Benedictus, while up front Craig Wighton and Nikolay Todorov provide a dual threat.

Iain Sneddon is the man in the middle for the tie.

A reminder that admission prices on Saturday are £12 for adults, £6 concessions.

Cash turnstiles will be available to Forfar fans on the day at sections J&K of the south stand.

Seats can also still be booked on the supporters coach to East End Park leaving the Myre Car Park at 12.45p.m.    The cost is £10 and to confirm a booking contact Paul Wilson on 07715787840 or e mail-This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Enjoy the game.