PARTICK Thistle rode their luck but still managed to muster a share of the points at East End Park against a ten-man Dunfermline side who paid dearly for failing to take their chances.
Dunfermline took the lead after only 12 minutes, Stevie C
rawford hooking the ball past Jon Tuffey after the ball broke to him inside the box following a Stephen Glass corner.
It was almost 2-0 when Mark Burchill, who was lurking out on the left, delivered an angled drive which went just wide of the post.
Thistle were living dangerously and Crawford caused a few more flutters in their ranks as he drove in a cross towards on-loan St Mirren forward Alex Burke but the ball was touched away for a corner by Willie Kinniburgh.
The visitors, with Slovak striker Viteszlav Mooc making his debut, found themselves under even more pressure when defender Kevin McKinlay was stretchered off and replaced by Stevie Murray on the half-hour mark.
Former Hibs winger Kevin Harper was red-carded in the 50th minute for his two-footed tackle on Marc Twaddle. Glass had a golden opportunity to wrap it up when the ball landed perfectly for him but he sent his free header over the crossbar.
And there was another glaring miss when Stephen Simmons' effort was blocked by Tuffey but really should have found the back of the net.
Against the run of play, Thistle levelled the match with 17 minutes to go thanks to Steven McKeown's close in finish.
The full article contains 268 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
