In a match which saw the return of Jimmy Calderwood to a hostile atmosphere - despite what Aberdeen's resident Plug-lookalike Steven Tosh, surely one of the ugliest men in Britain, had predicted in the papers this morning - the away side came away with all three points despite the Pars dominating for the vast majority of the ninety minutes.
Despite the odd Pars fan here and there applauding Calderwood onto the pitch, the great majority joined in a chorus of booing and the chanting of 'Judas' to give Mr Calderwood and his sidekick Schnorbitz a warm welcome back to their old stamping ground.
With transfer-listed Ritchie Byrne left out of the starting line-up, Scott Thomson took his place at left back with ex-Aberdeen player Darren Young moving into the centre of midfield to make his first start of the season. Other than that solitary change the team remained the same as the side that took to the field against Inverness Caley the week before.
The Pars set about taking the game to Aberdeen - the visitor's backed by a fairly large support of roughly 3500 - staright from the kick-off with Noel Hunt using his skill to get past Kevin McNaughton and Zander Diamond before seeing his ferocious angled drive held by Dons keeper David Preece. The Pars continued to pluck away at the visitor's defence without much substance until the 16th minute when Hunt and Brewster combined excellently only for the young Irishman to fire a tame shot well wide of Preece's right-hand post.
With the Pars continuing to press Calderwood's side, the visitor's took a very surprising lead in the 23rd minute through Noel WHELAN. With the farside linesman momentarily forgetting the whole concept of the offside rule, Whelan at least two-yards offside - managed to get on the end of long ball before lobbing the ball over the advancing Derek Stillie, with the Pars keeper stranded in no mans land.
The Pars almost conjured up an immediate reply only two minutes later when they were awarded a free-kick on the angle of Aberdeen's eighteen yard box. Irishman Gary Dempsey swung a wicked cross in only to see the ball bounce of the feet of Skerla and just wide of the post.
It wasn't until the 40th minute that the Pars offered any other serious threat on the visitor's goal. With the Pars ripping the Aberdeen defence open, both Hunt and Brewster were denied by last ditch blocks by Preece and his defenders. Only a minute later, with the Pars starting to take control of the match, they should have found themselves on the score sheet when Hunt sent Greg Shields through on the goal. With no Aberdeen defender offering any sort of resistance, the Pars right-back seemed to have all the time in the world to place his shot, only for Sheilds to cut the ball back into a mass of Aberdeen defenders.
The second-half saw the Pars start brightly once again with Hunt at the centre of most Pars moves. Straight after the restart the young Irishman broke through the Aberdeen defence only to be tamely muscled off the ball. There was a heart-in-the-mouth moment in the 59th minute when Stillie seemed to have safely collected the ball just inside his area only to see the ball escape from his clutches. Fortunately the Aberdeen attackers failed to have the quality to capatalise on the mistake.
Davie Hay - once again watching from the stand - finally saw sense in the 62nd minute when he substituted the very ineffectual Simon Donnelly for Derek Young who made his first appearance of the season. A minute later the Pars came close through an Andrius Skerla header after a Gary Dempsey corner.
With the Pars attack gaining momentum substitute Derek Young fired well wide in the 67th minute after recieving the pass from Noel Hunt. A minute later the Pars hould had levelled when Brewster sent an excellent pass into the path of Gary Mason, only for the midfielder to send his volley wide of the visitor's goal in a very similar way to how he spurned a good chance against Dundee Utd on the first day of the season.
With the Pars offering wave after wave of attack Hunt saw his right-footed shot sail wide in the 74th minute and, two minutes later, Wilson saw a fairly weak header easily held by David Preece. With Aberdeen looking to waste time at every opportunity, Kevin McNaughton picked up a yellow card for kicking the ball away - referee Ian Fyfe finally realising that blatantly kicking the ball away merits a yellow card.
With one final throw of the dice Davie Hay threw on Andy Tod in the 85th minute to add some height up front in order to find a target for the countless number of long balls that the Pars defenders persisted in launching up to the strikers. The Pars came agonisingly close to the equaliser a minute later when Derek Young saw his volley sneak just wide of the visitor's goal.
With five minutes of injury time added on the Pars threw everything at an Aberdeen defence hanging on by a thread and should have equalised in the dying seconds when Andy Tod got on the end of through ball. Tod chested the ball down six yards out only for Anderson to slide the ball away from the big man when he was about to shoot.
Amid of chorus of whistles from the Aberdeen fans desperate for the final whistle to come, the referee brought an end to a match which the Pars should have had wrapped up comfortably.
Despite an improved performance, the Pars will be hugely dissapointed at losing such a one sided contest. Indeed, a certain Mr Calderwood even admitted that the Pars were by far the better side and had they scored first, would have went on to score three or four.
However the fact remains that it is results that matter and not the performances - as I'm sure the Pars will testify to after the draw with FH Hafnarfjordur last week! Whether from the stand or the dugout, Davie Hay needs to sort it out and quickly! A Pars team with no wins in three league matches against fairly weak opposition is simply not good enough. The long-ball tactic is simply not working and the new manager needs to get the players passing the ball on the deck as soon as possible.
The simple fact is that, after the recent poor form, if the Pars fail to progress to the next round of the UEFA Cup then the fans could well start to turn on Hay very very soon!!!
Man of the Match - SCOTT THOMSON - A return to form for the captain who won every single header and tackle.
PARS - Stillie 6, Shields 5, Thomson 8, Wilson 6, Skerla 8, Donnelly 5, (Derek Young 62) 6, Dempsey 5, (Tod 85) 5, Darren Young 7, Mason 6, Brewster 7, (Mehmet 74) 6, Hunt 8.