U19s v Annan Athletic

Pars free scoring at Galabank. Moncrieff (11) 1-0, Hackland (18) 2-0, Leslie (32), 3-0, Moncrieff (33) 4-0, Forsyth (78) 4-1, Henderson (80) 5-1., Henderson (88) 6-1

ANNAN ATHLETIC 1 DUNFERMLINE 6

MATCH PICTURES
The Under 19s travelled to sunny Annan for their first league match of the 2010 season.  The named  line up was a bit of a surprise with six trialists on the team sheet but the faces were all very familiar.

It was all Dunfermline from the start and they could well have been ahead before Fraser MONCRIEFF`s spectacular volley from 30 yards from keeper Aaron Sommerville`s  clearance in 11 minutes.  Before  that Moncrieff had a shot blocked, Steven Leslie had seen his header from a Shaun Byrne lay off tipped around the post by Annan keeper Ross Wilson and Kerr Young had headed over the bar from an Aaron Scott corner.

In 13 minutes Grant Munro headed over from another corner and then the Pars made it 2-0 in 18 minutes.  Leslie crossed to the far left of the box where the unmarked Chris HACKLAND controlled the ball with his left before hitting a right footed shot in at the far post.

The home side`s first corner came in 22 minutes but Lee Wells turned the ball past the far post. Four minutes later a Blair McWhirter free kick out on the right travelled through a ruck of players to Scott in the left side of the Annan box but his shot was pushed around the post for a corner. Next danger came when Leslie teed up Moncrieff for a header that led to yet another corner.  Young had another headed effort at goal headed away and Shaun Byrne smacked the follow up wide.

Leslie worked hard at the right corner flag to win the ball off Sean Currie and lay it back for John MacDonald but his shot was also tipped around the upright. In 32 minutes however LESLIE produced a fantastic shot when just 12 yards short of the byeline and just 6 feet off the left byeline curling the ball in at the top right.

The Pars struck again within a minute when Ross Drummond overlapped up the left to deliver the perfect ball for MONCRIEFF to head home. Young had another chance touched away for a corner and before the break there was time for the all orange Pars keeper to pull off a fine save from Annan trialist Ashley Tyson.

Half Time: Annan Athletic 0 Dunfermline Athletic 4

On 52 minutes trialist Jed Fertacz replaced Shaum Byrne and Leslie should have increased the lead in 63 minutes after Drummond did the hard work to set up the striker on the edge of the box.

With the magnitude of the lead there was not as much bite in the second 45.  Blair Henderson came on for Chris Hackland and Connor Schiavone replaced Fraser Moncrieff but it  was Annan who got the breakthrough from a 78th minute free kick. The ball in from the left was not properly dealt with and Andrew FORSYTH stuck it into the roof of the net.

Two minutes later Dunfermline restored their four goal lead when HENDERSON got three bites at a chance finally drilling it home from close in.  Then in 88 minutes the Fifers completed their rout after Drummond made ground up the left, picking out Leslie who took the ball to the byeline from where he cut back for HENDERSON to finish.