In fairness, the latter is down to circumstance more than anything else. Stewart Kean was already out, whilst Billy Mehmet was doubtful. However, the worst news came this morning when John Sutton had to call off with a virus. That meant the unlikely pairing of Mark Corcoran and Alex Burke up front. They worked hard, but to be honest they are hardly the sort of strike force to put fear into the hearts of opposition defenders (although Corcoran on top form certainly is). Garry Brady also missed out with a virus, whilst Andy Millen was finally dropped. The match day squad was effectively everyone that was fit, with Stephen McGinn being the random youth player filling the third under 21 player spot.
Corcoran and Burke looked lively up front to begin with, a little too lively perhaps as they kept being called offside. Meanwhile, the Saints defence made some mistakes that went unpunished. The worst offender was Tony Bullock, who spilled a decent shot from Stephen Simmons that thankfully didn't cost us anything.
The toothless strike force came extremely close to proving once and for all that this report is an idiot midway through the first half when Corcoran cut back for Burke, whose shot hit the post and bounced to safety. A few minutes later, he had a shot that was defelected behind and also could have scored in a scramble, but was given offside after Dunfermline keeper Dorus de Vries comically flapped at Simon Lappin's free kick.
Bullock made another mistake just before the break, this time dropping a tame ball for a corner that thankfully produced nothing. I'm a big fan of Bullock, however he seems to be making a few too many mistakes these days and his place could be in threat, especially if Craig Hinchcliffe returns from his loan spell at Queen of the South unharmed.
Rather amusingly, Dunfermline decided to make a change in first half stoppage time. Mark Burchill had picked up an injury and had to be replaced by Jim Hamilton. Fair enough, except why not wait until the break? Bizarre.
Saints had to make their own change at half time when Burke became the latest striker to pick up an injury. So, that's Sutton, Kean, Burke and Brian McGinty all injured or ill - leaving Corcoran, a not fit Mehmet and then young players David McKenna and Scott Gemmill and the like. Any more of this and John Baird will be called back from Stenhousemuir!
Both team's subs went close to helping their side score after the restart. Hamilton flicked on for Stevie Crawford, but he lifted the ball too high and it went over both Bullock and the bar. At the other end, Corcoran did some great work and produced a cracking cross that Mehmet got his head to, but De Vries pulled off an excellent save.
Sadly, that was as exciting as things were to get for both sides. Both Saints and Dunfermline threatened from corners, the visitors especially in the final ten minutes, but produced nothing of note - other than a few heart stopping moments for pessimists like myself. In the final moments, Bullock spilled his second Simmons shot of the day, whilst Mehmet volleyed over.
It was a game we really had to win, but perhaps more important was not losing - which we managed. With Motherwell losing, we've now moved up a point in the league and are just one point behind Inverness Caley Thistle.
Next week sees us travel to Easter Road to face Hibs - the last team we managed to beat. Can we finally end our losing run. I doubt it - in fact, I'll go as far as saying we won't win any more matches in 2006.