One team in Glasgow Partick Thistle

Tuesday night’s heroic performance in the cup was followed by a battling display that saw Thistle fight back to take a share of the spoils, helped in no small way by the controversial sending off of Dunfermline midfielder Kevin Harper, at a freezing East End Park.

A Stevie Crawford strike was cancelled out by Stephen McKeown’s first goal in the red ‘n’ yellow, but the match is more likely to be remembered for the woeful performance of referee Brian Winter than the poor football displayed by both teams.

Czech striker Vitezslav Mooc was handed his debut, replacing the injured Liam Buchanan to start alongside Simon Donnelly in the Jags’ attack. He was one of five changes as Ian McCall elected to go with a 3-5-2 formation, with McKinlay, McKeown, Rowson, McStay and Storey in the middle and Kinniburgh, Archibald and Twaddle in at the back.

Dunfermline made one change in light of last week’s 3-0 defeat to league leaders Hamilton Accies, with Scott Thomson replacing Sol Bamba in the heart of defence.

With top-scorer Buchanan out, added to the fact Thistle had failed to win at EEP since 1983, the odds seemed stacked in Dunfermline’s favour. However, despite having the weight of history pressing down on them, the Jags started brightly with Kevin McKinlay picking out Mooc with a cross, but the front man’s downward header failed to find any of his team mates.

A short back pass from Thomson then gave Mooc and Donnelly the opportunity to pressure Gallagher in the Dunfermline goal, but the keeper was alert to the danger, clearing the ball before the front two could close in.

However, it was to prove a false dawn as Dunfermline opened the scoring from their first foray forward. Burchill raced past Archibald to a fine through ball from Glass, evaded Tuffey, who had sprinted out of his area, and fired a ball across goal which was headed out by Twaddle. The Jag’s defence failed to clear the resultant corner and the ball broke to Crawford who calmly controlled it before firing into the back of the net.

The shaven-headed Crawford, who shot narrowly wide soon after, was to prove a constant thorn in the Jags’ flesh. McKeown was guilty of going in hard on him and Rowson picked up the first booking of the game following a late challenge on Simmons.

Thistle were then lucky not to concede a penalty from the ensuing free kick when Burchill was clearly pulled back by Kinniburgh while attempting to get on the end of Glass’s cross.

The Jags rallied, albeit briefly, with McKinlay putting in another great cross that was headed on to Simon Donnelly by Rowser, but the ex-Dunfermline player was crowded out before he could pull the trigger.

This would be the last time Thistle threatened in the first 45 as the Pars began to turn the screw. Thomson volleyed over a Glass corner and Twaddle was turned inside out by Crawford, whose whipped ball was missed by a hair’s breadth by the onrushing Burke.

The Jags were forced into a change in the 29th minute when McKinlay, who was rated 50/50 before the game, was carried off after contesting a high ball with Harper. His replacement, Stevie Murray, soon found his name in the book of the overly fussy Winter, who had previously neglected to book Simmons for a late challenge on Archibald.

There was time for Crawford to have another effort on target before the shrill blast of the ref’s whistle brought a welcome end to a first half that was pitiable from a Jags perspective.

The only moment of real entertainment was provided by the Dunfermline support who taunted the Jags’ fans with a rendition of “You’ll Never Get A Job”, despite sitting in a stand named after a company that went into administration a few years back. Irony at its best.

The Pars may have run out to the sounds of The Skids following the break, but it was the Jags’ fans that were touching cloth within the first couple of minutes of the second half as a cute Crawford back heel was blasted across goal by Harper.

This was to be the Possil-reared player’s last contribution, as he was harshly adjudged to have lunged into a two-footed tackle on Twaddle and shown a red card by Winter. The Pars had further cause to be aggrieved only moments later as they were denied a stonewall penalty when Crawford’s cross struck the outstretched hand of Archibald.

Despite being without a full compliment of players, it was Dunfermline who were stretching Thistle, and Tuffey made a brilliant point-blank save after finding himself one-on-one with Burchill.

Keegan replaced Mooc, who naturally looked off-the-pace, and the game began to swing in the Jags’ favour, driven by McKeown and Chaplain, who had replaced the ineffectual McStay at half time. Rowson hit the side netting after being played through by Murray and a last-gasp Wilson block denied Twaddle before McKeown notched the equaliser.

An Archibald free kick was brought down by Keegan whose lay off was poked into the bottom corner of the Dunfermline goal by the former Airdrie man.

Simon Donnelly, who was Thistle’s best performer by far, then shot over following a quickly taken throw in and a Rowson cross found its way through a sea of bodies in the Pars’ box, sailing agonisingly wide of Gallagher’s left-hand post.

Simmons had one final chance to win the match for his side after wriggling through the Thistle defence, but Tuffey again stood his ground and blocked the shot. True to form, the man the Thistle fans love to hate went to ground shouting for a penalty despite no one coming within a foot of him.

It was a scrappy end to a scrappy game. However, given Livingston and Clyde’s inactivity and Morton’s defeat at the hands of Dundee, the draw provides a priceless point, edging Thistle away from the playoff place and towards First Division safety.

Man of the match: Simon Donnelly