August 1965: Sonny and Cher with "I Got You Babe' ended the Beatles' 3 week run at number 1 with 'Help', while in football, Charlton Athletic's Keith Peacock became the first substitute to be used in a Football League match (it would be a further 12 months before Scottish football introduced the use of substitutes, with Archie Gemmill, then of St Mirren, the first sub in a Scottish professional match). 
Dunfermline Athletic were enjoying the greatest period of their history, and entered season 1965/66 in great form. Today we look back at a game from August 1965 between the Pars and our opponents this Friday evening, Partick Thistle. 

The Scottish League Cup paired Dunfermline in a group with Partick, St Johnstone and Kilmarnock. The opening game in the group at Firhill on 14 August had ended goalless. Four days later, Dunfermline thrashed St Johnstone 5-1 before suffering a 3-1 defeat at Kilmarnock on August 21. The fourth game of the group, at East End Park on 28 August, would see 8 goals scored, with all of Dunfermline's strikers on target. 
Alex Ferguson opened the scoring after 12 minutes, heading in a cross from Alex Edwards. The Pars lead lasted until the 24th minute when Thistle's Hogan took advantage of slack defending to score. Seven minutes later. Edwards was again the architect when his corner was met by the head of Ian Hunter to put the Pars 2-1 up. Dunfermline were dominating the game and Hugh Robertson made it 3-1 in the 38th minute. 

The second half was to see a repeat of the first half score, with a rampant Pars side punishing any sign of weakness in the visitors' defence. Hunter and Robertson came close to extending the lead but it was Thistle who scored next, Gibb scoring after a mix-up between Pars keeper Martin and Tommy Callaghan, in the 68th minute. Any thoughts Thistle had of mounting a comeback were ended after 77 minutes when Hunter was fouled in the penalty box and Edwards scored from the resultant kick: 4-2 to Dunfermline.
Five minutes later, Alex Smith took a pass from Robertson and scored Dunfermline's fifth. With 3 minutes left on the clock, Hunter was fouled again in the box and Edwards scored his second spot kick of the day to make the score Dunfermline 6, Partick 2.

Dunfermline concluded their League Cup group games with a 3-1 defeat at St Johnstone and a 1-0 win over Kilmarnock at home. The Pars failed to qualify from their group for the next stage of the competition but started the League campaign strongly, with just 1 defeat in the opening 14 matches. Just as in the League Cup game against Thistle, goals were scored at an incredible rate that autumn, with Dunfermline scoring 45 times in the first 14 League games (2 games saw 6 Pars goals scored, and another 3 games ended with Dunfermline scoring 5 times). Great days, indeed.

​Pars line-up v Partick Thistle (player in background image - John Lunn):

Winter, 1982: Dunfermline Athletic find themselves near the foot of the Scottish First Division. After 12 League games, the Pars had one just once; today we look at the 13th fixture in that season's League campaign, against our opponents this weekend, Alloa. 

Alloa were enjoying a good season under manager Alex Totten, sitting sixth in the table and defeated only once at home. The Wasps team featured ex-Par Kenny Thomson, who had been released by Dunfermline in the summer of 1982, prematurely in the opinion of many, after 12 years' service. Thomson would go on to play a further 10 seasons in the Scottish League, retiring aged 41 in 1992.
​The Alloa team were on top for most of the first half and went into a 2-0 lead with goals from Alan Holt and Davie Houston. The Pars defence were unable to cope with Alloa's wingers - Arthur Grant on the right and Stuart Munro on the left, and Hugh Hamill was lucky to only receive a yellow card after he pulled back Munro after the winger out-paced him and was about to run in on goal.   
After barely threatening the Alloa goal, Dunfermline pulled a goal back in the 25th minute when Rab Stewart crossed for Bobby Forrest to head home. 

The second half began with Dunfermline pressing for an equaliser. Stewart had claims for a penalty turned down after the ball struck Thomson's hand in the Alloa penalty box. Grant Jenkins seemed certain to get the Pars' second after a mazy run through the Alloa defence which ended with a shot that was hit wildly past the post. 
The equaliser came after 61 minutes and it was something of a gift from the Alloa defence. Wasps keeper Donald Hunter miskicked a clearance, which was gathered by Stevie Morrison, who struck the ball firmly past the Alloa keeper. 
Stewart almost got a winner for Dunfermline but narrowly failed to connect from a Morrison pass. Alloa were still a threat and Munro's dangerous run down the left ended with the winger passing to David Lloyd, whose shot was well saved by Hugh Whyte. Despite more Pars pressure, there were no more goals. 
In the weeks following this game, the Pars' miserable run of results continued, including an embarrassing 6-0 defeat against the Wee Team on 3 January. The season ended with only 7 victories in total, and the team were relegated to the Second Division. Tom Forsyth stayed in charge until October 1983 when he was sacked after a poor start to the Second Division campaign. The next Pars boss would be a 29 year old ex-player who, in time, would turn the club's fortunes around completely after so many years in the doldrums: Jim Leishman's era would see Dunfermline return to the top flight and banish the memory of the disastrous Stanton and Forsyth seasons. 
Pars line-up v Alloa (player in background image - Hugh Whyte):