Falkirk 2-2 Dunfermline Athletic: Bairns surrender two goal lead as Pars earn unbeaten derby record

The Bairns dominated the opening proceedings and they raced into an early lead through Aidan Nesbitt on nine minutes.

The midfielder controlled the ball on the spin in the box and fired home to give the home side the lead.

John McGlynn’s side were in total control at this point – with the visiting Pars struggling to get out of their own box.

The boss clearly changed it up from the previous meetings with James McPake’s team, with the forward-thinking players right on the shoulders of the visiting backline, and the whole team playing more direct than usual.

And it was working well with Deniz Mehmet being forced into a smart diving save to deny Gary Oliver when he broke free in the box.

St Johnstone loanee Max Kucheriayvi also went close soon after with a free-kick from just outside the area that skimmed the bar.

In the 34th minute, Falkirk finally found the second goal that their performance had deserved, with Rumarn Burrell scoring from close range.

Callumn Morrison fed the ball into the box to Oliver, who forced Mehmet into parrying the ball straight into the path of the striker, who made no mistake.

However, the Pars showed why they are the team at the top of the table, immediately coming finding a goal back out of nothing.

The Bairns were caught out by a smart ball from Lewis McCann that found Craig Wighton at near post to finish.

He poked the ball past Brian Kinnear to put a completely different outlook on proceedings.

And with one minute of the opening half to go, the Pars levelled the match.

Matty Todd did well to shrug off a number of challenges and he found McCann, who slotted home into the bottom corner.

Going into the second half, the Bairns had most of the possession, but they couldn’t find their way to goal again.

The first real chance came on the hour mark for the away side when a stramash in the box saw an effort well smothered by Kinnear.

Moments later up the other end, Burrell burst through on goal but narrowly offside, with Mehmet still producing a wonderful reflex spot.

Nesbitt was the next Falkirk player to go close on 71 minutes, firing narrowly wide in the box.

Falkirk couldn’t find a winning goal on the day and the match ended in a draw, ensuring the Pars sealed an unbeaten record against the Bairns this league campaign.

Next up for McGlynn’s side is a tough trip to Montrose on Tuesday night.

Teams

Falkirk: Kinnear, Rowe, McKay, Donaldson, McCann, McGinn, Kucheriayvi, Nesbitt, Morrison, Oliver, Burrell.

Subs: Morrison, Williamson, Henderson, Allan, McGuffie, Yeats, Wright, Watson, Kennedy.

Dunfermline: Mehmet, Comrie, Edwards, Benedictus, Hamilton, Chalmers, Wighton, McCann, Otoo, Ritchie-Hosler, Todd.

Subs: Little, MacDonald, O’Hara, Todorov, Mochrie, Allan, Fenton, McGowan, Mahon.

Referee: David Dickinson.

Attendance: 6,031.