Dunfermline and visitors Motherwell were booed from the pitch after a drab goalless draw.

Motherwell striker Scott McDonald's disallowed goal was the closest either side came to breaking the deadlock on an icy night at East End Park.

The draw will offer little help to either side's hopes of a top-six finish, and the visitors will have to be much better to trouble Rangers in their CIS Cup final later this month.

There was no place in the Dunfermline side for Lithuanian defender Andrius Skerla, who is on his way to Russian side Rubin Kazan in a £200,000 move.

However there was a first start for former £1.5million Barnsley striker Georgi Hristov, and he made an early impact with the first shot on target after only two minutes.

It was a decidedly low-key opening spell, with Motherwell content to fire high balls for Jim Hamilton which only resulted in gifting possession to the home side.

The visitors did threaten in the 12th minute as McDonald and Marc Fitzpatrick broke quickly from a mistake by Andy Tod and Lee Makel, but Kevin McBride's shot skidded across goal and wide.

With 26 minutes gone, visiting defender David Partridge saved his side with a brave block on Lee Makel's 20-yard drive, with the power behind his effort temporarily flooring the Welshman.

Andy Tod sent a header wide as the Pars continued to press for the breakthrough but it was Motherwell who had the ball in the net first, only to see the strike ruled out for offside.

Steve Hammell's cross from the right was headed goalwards by Scott McDonald and, although he netted with the rebound from Derek Stillie's instinctive save, the linesman came to Dunfermline's rescue.

The second period followed a similar pattern to the first, as both sides struggled to put together any incisive passages of play, with mistakes littering the play.

Scott Leitch and Jim Paterson did combine to set up McDonald and his rifled shot rippled along the back of the net - after scraping past and rebounding off the pole behind the goal.

Two minutes later, Hristov's last involvement before being replaced by Billy Mehmet was to sting Gordon Marshall's hands with a shot which appeared net-bound.

Ross, more often seen in an attacking sense, came top his side's rescue in the 64th minute as he deflected McDonald's header over the bar from McBride's cross.

The longer the match went on the less likely it appeared that either side would be able to engineer an end to the stalemate.

Paterson almost sneaked a winner for the visitors as he surged inside Ross and drove towards goal but Gary Mason deflected his effort wide.

Four corners in a row provided something of a grandstand finish late on for Dunfermline but there was to be no dramatic winner.

Teams

Dunfermline Stillie, Ross, Tod, Scott Wilson, Scott Thomson (Campbell 46), Christiansen, Mason, Makel, Hristov (Mehmet 60), Donnelly, Darren Young (Derek Young 72).

Subs Not Used: Langfield, McKeown, Craig Wilson, Scullion.

Booked: Tod.

Motherwell Marshall, Paul Quinn, Partridge, Craigan (Kinniburgh 81), Hammell, McBride (Foran 85), Leitch, Fitzpatrick, Paterson, Scott McDonald, Hamilton.

Subs Not Used: Corr, Clarkson, Wright, Corrigan, Fagan.

Booked: Hammell.

Att: 3,565

Ref: W Young (Scotland).