Dunfermline 1 Partick Thistle 1

CHRIS Kane won and converted a second half penalty to rescue a point for the Pars and keep their play-off promotion hopes alive.

Partick had two efforts cleared off the line in the first half before Brian Graham found the net with a deflected strike for a deserved lead.

But Pars rallied after the break with Matty Todd thumping a shot off the post, Kane levelling from the spot and then almost winning it late on with a terrific strike off the same upright.

The result keeps James McPake’s men in fifth place, three points behind Airdrie.

Injuries had forced the boss’ hand with Chris Hamilton and Paul Allan, who picked up knocks in the win at Arbroath, out of the squad.

In from the start came Joe Chalmers and fit again Miles Welch-Hayes, while Sam Fisher dropped to the bench.

Both sides came into the match on the back of three wins in a row with the third placed Jags as good as confirmed in the promotion play-offs and Dunfermline hoping to join them.

In the business end of the season, the hosts wanted a win to keep the dream alive and they started brightly, with a dangerous inswinging free kick from Chalmers causing some anxiety for Thistle keeper David Mitchell, who juggled and gathered at the second attempt.

Welch-Hayes showed off his powers of recovery with an excellent tackle to break up an attack and then he charged forward, drilling an inviting ball across goal which Kane just couldn’t reach.

The striker did get on the end of a Kane Ritchie-Hosler delivery in the eighth minute but from the six yard box he powered a header straight into Mitchell’s gloves.

It started to go wrong in the 16th minute when Malachi Fagan-Walcott was caught in possession by Graham who ran through and forced a save from Deniz Mehmet.

The ball ran free for Aidan Fitzpatrick and he drilled it towards goal only for Kyle Benedictus to block on the line and save his fellow centre back’s blushes.

Next it was Welch-Hayes’ turn to be the hero when Graham’s deflected strike in the 19th minute took the ball beyond Mehmet and was going in until the defender – just – stopped the ball crossing the line.

Kerr McInroy fired a free kick inches over the bar as the Jags took charge and it was no great surprise when the visitors’ pressure paid off and they took the lead in the 24th minute.

Fagan-Walcott did well to get in the way of Scott Robinson’s drive but, off balance, he could only knock the rebound into the path of Graham.

The Thistle hitman hammered the ball at goal and it took a bounce off a Pars leg and looped into the net, despite Welch-Hayes’ attempts to clear.

Athletic rallied and Chalmers thumped a free kick into the wall after Kane was fouled while the striker himself let fly with a half volley that struck a Thistle defender and curled into Mitchell’s grasp.

At the start of the second half Graham wasn’t far away from converting Fitzpatrick’s cross-shot as Dunfermline looked for a spark.

Welch-Hayes forced Mitchell into a save with a downward header but it was the ref who riled the players and fans more than anything after a crunching – and fair – tackle from the Pars defender on McInroy.

The man in black, Calum Scott, was yards away and let play continue only to stop the game as McInroy was still down injured and then, belatedly, give a free kick.

Dunfermline had been flat and short on ideas but they kept pushing and Todd was out of luck when he evaded the offside trap to latch onto Fagan-Walcott’s long ball and crack a low shot past the goalie and off the inside of the post.

Agonisingly, the ball rolled across the goal and then out of play on the other side of the post for a goal kick to Thistle.

Todd smacked an effort high over the bar as Athletic chased an equaliser and they got it from the spot in the 78th minute.

There was no real danger when the ball was rolled in to Kane with his back to goal but Aaron Muirhead was too eager to try and pinch the ball, took the striker’s ankles and conceded a daft penalty.

Kane took it himself, crashing the ball high into the net as Mitchell dived the other way.

Dunfermline had been in the ascendancy but, stung into a response, Thistle went up the other end and McInroy rattled a shot off the outside of the post to give McPake’s men a scare.

Graham had a shot on the turn that Fagan-Walcott got in the way of as both teams went for the win, with Pars racing to the other end and sub Owen Moffat firing just too high when the ball reached him at the back post.

Kane almost won it with two minutes left on the clock when he wrestled control of the ball, shrugged off a challenge and smashed a tremendous half volley from outside the box that struck the post.