Five second-half goals send Dunfermline into the Fife derby unbeaten in ten, with Lennon watching from the stand
Sunday 1 November 2026 · By Aidan Kerr
Dunfermline Athletic were 1–0 down at half-time against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday and finished 5–1 winners, with all five goals coming after the break. It extends their unbeaten league run to ten games.
Alfie Bavidge had put Inverness ahead from the penalty spot, at 11 minutes by the BBC and Sky's reckoning and 13 by the Courier's. After the break, the Pars scored five times. Olamilekan "Ola" Adams equalised on 47 minutes, a goal that the Courier says was his first for the club in his 13th outing, although the BBC lists him as "A. Alade". Oli Shaw scored on 54 and 63 minutes, Nurudeen Abdulai added a fourth from a corner by Andrew Tod on 68, and Kian Corbally made it 5–1 on 78. The Courier says four of the five goals were headers.
The manager's afternoon was more complicated. According to the Courier, Neil Lennon "was forced to watch the second half from the stand after receiving a red card from referee Jamie Wilkie after some 'choice words' coming off the pitch at half-time". Lennon himself said: "I've apologised to the ref." We haven't seen anything on any touchline ban, so we won't guess at one.
There was also a talking point around the penalty. The Courier says home fans berated the referee over it, with Aaron Donnelly's tug on Layton Stewart leading to the spot-kick, and Donnelly was substituted at half-time. The Inverness Courier says it "was a point of contention for Kellacher that no red card was shown".
The run is the main story. On the dated results we have, Dunfermline have not lost in the league since a 2–0 defeat at Livingston on 22 August, and that run is now ten matches. It has three straight wins behind it, including a 1–0 win at Stenhousemuir on Tuesday 27 October through Rory MacLeod's 76th-minute goal, and the BBC form guide reads D D D W W W.
The BBC Championship table taken at 13:01 GMT today has Dunfermline third on 24 points from 13 games, with six wins, six draws and one defeat. They are level on points with Raith Rovers, who are second on goal difference (plus 11 against plus 8), and a point behind Partick Thistle. Only seven goals have been conceded, level with Partick for the joint-best defence, and the 5–1 is their biggest league win of the season in our dated results.
Now comes the biggest game of the week. Dunfermline travel to Raith Rovers for the Fife derby on Friday 6 November (19:30 GMT) at Stark's Park, with the teams level on 24 points. The Pars won the first meeting 1–0 at East End Park on 28 August. Before that, they play Bonnyrigg Rose in the KDM Evolution Trophy on Tuesday 3 November (19:45 GMT), and afterwards they host Arbroath on Saturday 14 November. In the Scottish Cup third round, on the weekend of 28 November, they go to Queen of the South at Palmerston Park.
Lennon has apologised, and the focus now moves to the derby.
East End Park has been the home of Dunfermline Athletic since 1885. It stands a short walk east of the town centre on Halbeath Road, and for sponsorship reasons the club currently bills it as KDM Group East End Park. The ground is all-seater, with a capacity of 11,480, a natural grass pitch of 105 by 64 metres and undersoil heating. The record crowd is 27,816, for a Scottish Cup tie against Celtic in 1968, when the ends were still open terraces.
Visiting supporters are normally put in the East Stand, also known as the Vertu Community Stand, straight behind the east goal. It is a steep covered single tier, opened in 1998, and holds a little over 3,000, with an excellent view of the pitch. Away turnstiles are on the east side of the ground. Wheelchair users have a dedicated entrance, 12 elevated spaces in this stand and an accessible toilet. For a larger following the club can also open the blocks of the North Stand and the Main Stand nearest the away end.
The goal at the far end is the home end. The Norrie McCathie Stand sits behind the west goal, a matching steep single tier from 1998, named after the Pars defender who holds the club appearance record and who died in 1996. That is where the black and white support gathers. Along the south touchline, with its back to Halbeath Road, is the Main Stand, the largest structure here: a two-tier stand built in 1962 from the proceeds of the 1961 Scottish Cup win. The players’ entrance is at its south-west corner. Opposite it, the North Stand is a smaller covered single tier. The four stands do not join, so once you are through the turnstile you stay in your own end.
Dunfermline has two stations, each about a fifteen-minute walk. Dunfermline Town is the better stop if you want the High Street first; Dunfermline Queen Margaret is the other, and both have trains from Edinburgh. By car, leave the M90 at junction 3 and take the A907 towards Dunfermline; the ground is on the right. From the west, the A994 brings you in with the ground on the left. The postcode is KY12 7RB. An official car park sits behind the East Stand, which suits away coaches and cars, and there is street parking in the surrounding roads.
The pub most often used by visiting supporters is the Elizabethan, on Halbeath Road near the turnstiles. The town centre is a ten to fifteen minute walk, where the Linen Exchange, a Wetherspoons on the High Street, and the Commercial, just off it, are the usual calls. On some matchdays Legends, the stadium bar, has opened to both sets of fans before kick-off, so check the club notes. Standing in the seats is not allowed. Flags are generally accepted if they are shown at the gate; poles are not. Prices change with the competition, so arrange tickets through your own club or the Dunfermline website rather than counting on the gate.
Take your seat in the East Stand, with the goal in front of you and the Norrie McCathie Stand at the far end, and you are looking straight down a compact pitch at the home support. It is a proper football ground rather than a bowl, and the noise stays close.