MARTIN Hardie was just made for pure mad mental matches like this one.

The veteran Dunfermline midfielder popped a couple of painkillers as he battled a half-time ankle injury to score the two second-half goals which settled this feisty Fife derby and meant the first division title is now theirs to lose.

The player, who celebrated his 35th birthday on Friday with a “bowl of pasta and a good night’s kip”, has scored eight crucial goals in his last eight games, not bad for a player who in January “was in a gym by myself looking for a club”.

“I went in for a 50/50 and my ankle sprung back,” the former St Johnstone and Partick Thistle player said. “But when the painkillers kicked in, it was all systems go. I never felt any pain, especially when the second one went in.”

Jim McIntyre had his own reasons to savour this one. The Dunfermline boss lost his father, Jim, on Thursday after an illness, and was clearly still raw. “My emotions are all over the shop, but when you have got a group like that it makes things a lot easier,” said McIntyre, whose side have a four-point lead, but must still travel to Cappielow then take on third-placed Falkirk. “The job is nowhere near done; this is the first division and you are easily turned over if you are not at the races.”

A raucous crowd of 11,000 came to watch a match with obvious parallels to today’s Old Firm encounter. These two old rivals were separated by 15 miles and a solitary point in the table, with leaders Dunfermline well aware their rivals from Kirkcaldy had held the Indian sign over them this season.

A Raith squad with a handful of part-time players chasing an unlikely return to the top flight for the first time in 14 years – and a maiden appearance in the SPL – had beaten them twice and drawn once.

The theatricals started early. To a soundtrack of Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, home mascot Sammy the Tammy came out with a cardboard tank and started launching volleys of imaginary gun fire at the away fans. A rather provocative gesture and not one to be repeated by Broxi the Bear this lunchtime. Andy Kirk and Stephen Simmons, two former Hearts team-mates, had a cuddle beforehand, but before long Iain Davidson and Joe Cardle were brushing foreheads in a rather more aggressive manner.

With the rain lashing down, and the pitch cutting up, both managers must have feared the title would be decided by a mishap. The most likely contender for that ignominy was Rovers goalkeeper Andrew McNeil, who got hopelessly lost under an Austin McCann free-kick and was lucky his goal remained intact.

Dunfermline were minus the suspended Kevin Rukiewicz but they did have Hardie, and he bossed the proceedings early on. It came as some surprise that he wasn’t involved in Dunfermline’s best move. David Graham started things off, Liam Buchanan cushioned a clever pass, and Kirk caught the ball in his stride to fire in a volley which shook the underside of the bar.

Raith were creaking, but they didn’t break. Grant Murray and Mark Campbell kept their heads, and instead the Kirkcaldy side scored with their first genuine attempt on goal. Allan Walker speared over a free-kick, Laurie Ellis rose unopposed to direct a header at goal, and Chris Smith fumbled the ball at the feet of John Baird, whose close-range finish took a flick off Smith and the bar on its way in.

If Tade’s finishing matched his overall athleticism, the visitors could have doubled their advantage as the second half began. A cute cutback from Ellis found the Frenchman in space, but he couldn’t keep his first time finish down. This time it was Raith who paid the price, as their goalkeeping frailties surfaced again. McNeil could only help an innocuous header from a set-piece on to his own bar and Cardle’s resultant corner was headed in by Hardie.

The energy had suddenly gone from Raith legs, manager John McGlynn finding he had little to replenish it with from the substitutes’ bench. Dunfermline, on the other hand, used all three subs and when one of them, Steven McDougall won a free-kick on the edge of the box, it seemed inevitable Hardie should curl in a shot which McNeil couldn’t keep out.

And that was that, barring a few mini pitch invasions, and McCann and Walker briefly threatening to knock lumps out of each other after the final whistle. The only person not arguing was McGlynn. “We just didn’t do enough to win the game,” he said.