This defeat was the last straw for Stevie Woods who was dropped in favour of Frankie DuBourdeau for the visit of Kilmarnock. The move looked to be a good one until injury time when Frankie let a free kick squirm under his body to give the visitors a 1-0 win.
We had a big chance to improve our position the next week when Dundee United visited Fir Park. We needed a good start and got it for the first twenty seconds. Then Dundee United scored. Another goal mid-way through the first half killed the game although Dirk Lehmann did pull one back.
Two away games to Hibs and Celtic produced the expected total of no points but the performances were at least getting better. We were 1-0 up and in charge at Easter Road before Sengewald was sent off for two silly lunges. A 3-1 loss was overshadowed by Pearson and Partridge being sent off in a brawl near the end. We gave Celtic a fright by holding them to 0-0 at half time and we had missed the best chance – Steven Ferguson smacking the ball off Douglas’ chest from eight yards. Celtic inevitably broke us down but another 3-1 defeat was not a humiliation although Shaun Fagan joined our hall of shame by being dismissed for two bookings.
The visit of Hearts in a December mid-week was not seen as much of a respite. However, they were missing a few players and James McFadden was returning to full fitness. An associate in the pub bravely predicted that we would win by five goals – too much lager for that boy clearly. He was to have the last laugh though as Hearts were destroyed by a sensational display of attacking football from Pearson and McFadden. Faddy’s run and cross set up Pearo for the first inside ten minutes and shortly afterwards McFadden scored a penalty after being brought down in the box. Faddy chased a long ball and slotted home the third before Pearson crossed for Adams to head home the fourth. All this and we even witnessed Partridge hitting our own bar with an attempted clearance from twenty yards. As expected, Hearts made a good start after the break and got one back but we were fairly solid in defence. Corrigan volleyed home his only goal of the season from the edge of the box to end Hearts’ resistance and Stevie Ferguson capped the night with a good goal in injury time. 6-1, surely the corner had been turned?
Two solid away draws at Pittodrie and Dens gave us a mini-unbeaten run and a frozen pitch meant a game against Dunfermline was postponed till February. Rangers were next on the agenda and we knew that a win would move us off the bottom of the league. Rangers just weren’t up for it while we fought like tigers. We could have been leading at half time but the only goal of the game came in the second half. Lehmann put off Amoruso, Cowan knocked the ball back across goal and who else but McFadden was there to bundle past Klos. Rangers were finally stirred from their slumber but a number of wonderful saves from DuBourdeau kept them out and gave us a vital win.
The last trip of the year, to Livingston, gave us a great chance to keep our good run going. It looked as though we had enjoyed too much Christmas sherry as we failed to play at all. We did hold out for nearly 90 minutes but a mistake from Hammell on the touchline was punished and we left with what we deserved – nothing. Young David Clarkson gave us the lead in our next game against Partick Thistle but the tide turned when McFadden was sent off, receiving two bookings for his only two tackles – neither of which were particularly bad – in the game. Burns scored twice and a loss looked certain but David Partridge popped up in the right place with a great header to salvage a point. The point was enough to keep us off the bottom of the league at the winter break. We only had eighteen points but that was one more than Dundee United and had to be viewed as a triumph at this stage.