Thistle were far from out of it as Sean Kilgannon hoofed a clearance out five minutes later and the Pars man was right in the action again as the play switched to the other end for him to cross in for Bullen. Bully`s header rebounded for Thomson and he was unlucky to find the wrong side of the roof of the net.

Four minutes from half time Mitchell almost equalised from a Hardie cross but it remained 1-0 at half time.

The second half again opened briskly with Thistle playing towards the 700 or so travelling supporters in the East Stand. There were claims for a penalty in the 51st minute when Bullen went to ground in front of the McCathie stand. Crawford played the ball out to Dempsey and Bullen seemed to be denied the challenge by the robust Thistle defence but Hugh Dallas so no wrong.

Dallas however was reaching for his top pocket however four minutes later when Gary Dempsey was dumped into the trackside in front of the dugouts. David Lilley was very late in on the tackle and when Dallas got the card out it was red. Gary Dempsey was carried off by Pip Yeates and Dr Hugh Whyte with serious ligament trouble which will almost certainly put him out of the Republic of Ireland`s U21 match in Switzerland next weekend.

One up and against ten men Thistle might have been deemed finished but on the hour Sean Kilgannon was forced into playing the ball with his upper arm instead of the intended chest and Dallas pointed to the penalty spot. Up came MITCHELL and he converted with ease from the spot to level the scoreline.

Dunfermline piled forward and Thistle retreated. Kilgannon was warned for too enthusiastically trying to get on the end of a Bullen knock down when Arthur had already the ball in his grasp. McGroarty was introduced for Nicholls with the defence being left to Skerla and Ruitenbeek.

Even Andrius Skerla was playing midway up into the Thistle half and it was only a matter of time until the Jags defence was caught out. It meant that Marco was left very exposed at the back and he had to be alert to thwart a Mitchell break with a diving save at the attacker`s feet.

In the 68th minute Dunfermline recaptured the lead when Barry NICHOLSON headed in a Gus MacPherson cross from 8 yards out.

Thistle brought on Gerry Britton in the 75th minute to try and give them something up front and the old East End Park and the no.19 was given a rousing reception from the Pars support, some in the McCathie Stand even getting to their feet.

Then a superb solo effort from Stevie CRAWFORD put the Pars further ahead. Just four minutes after coming on Britton was dispossessed by Skerla in the centre circle and the ball was pushed through for the Scotland striker to boost Berti`s hopes. Stevie rounded Paterson on the edge of the penalty box and with great confidence rolled the ball into the far right of the net.

Petrie, a 76th minute sub for MacPherson flashed a ball across the face of the goal that Kilgannon almost turned in. Then one minute into stoppage time CRAWFORD got a second when Bullen`s pass up the right was touched by Jason Dair to his long time friend to seal Thistle`s feat with yet another expertly executed finish.

John Lambie described Crawford game as "electric" and "the real difference between the teams". His movement was superb and his trickery left many of his opponents for dead.

This is the kind of fixture that the Pars need to take full points from if they are seriously going to be contenders for a UEFA Cup place at the end of the season. They won convincingly but the manager confessed to not being entirely happy with the performance which had kept the visitors firmly in the match until ten past four.

Three points and another four goals which is becoming a rather pleasant habit. Third top of the SPL, albeit with Hearts to play on Sunday but that is where we all want to stay!