After a weeks’ break, East Fife were back on the road, this time a long hike up north to Borough Briggs to face Elgin City. The host sat in 3rd place in the table prior to kick off and were in a very rich vein of form however, after a couple of signings earlier in the week and few more returning from injury, the Fifers were hoping to put in a good performance for the travelling support.
Four changes were made to the team that lost out to Dumbarton on Christmas Eve as new signing Aidan Quinn was brought straight into the starting line-up along with Taylor Steven, Alan Trouten and Aaron Steele. Liam Parker, Ryan Schiavone, Sam Denham and Scott Mercer were placed on the bench alongside and player/coach Scott Agnew.
The first chance of the game fell to the Fifers in the 10th minute when Ferguson picked out Shepherd unmarked inside the box, but he couldn’t guide his headed effort goal wards. Another chance came quickly with Steven forcing McHale into a diving save from long range.
Following numerous chances, East Fife finally took the lead in the 19th minute. After a good bit of passing play Stewart Murdoch found himself with a bit of space 25-yards out and his sensational shot managed to find the top left corner, adding his name to the goal of the season contenders.
Shortly after taking the lead, the Fifers showed no signs of slowing down as a deflected shot from Steven landed for Jack Healy in acres of space inside the box who, after a couple of keepy-uppies, took a shot on the volley that bounces back off the post.
Elgin had their first chance of the game on 25 minutes when a long ball over the top found Hester one-on-one with Fleming, but his attempted lob was just wide of the post.
On the half hour mark, Trouten was bundled over inside the area and the referee pointed straight to the spot with no hesitation. Trouten calmly and composedly slotted the penalty home, netting his 200th career goal and giving East Fife a 2-0 cushion.
Towards the end of the half Shepherd had a flurry of chances to seal the three points. The first being a free kick from around 25 yards out which forced McHale to tip the ball over the bar. The second came from a defensive mistake which put Shepherd through on goal, however a heavy touch when he rounded the keeper tightened the angle and McHale was able to recover and make the save.
HALF TIME: Elgin City 0-2 East Fife
Elgin came out of the blocks the quickest in search for a goal after the break, however early second half chances were comfortably saved by Fleming. 5 minutes into the half, Steven was unlucky to see his strike cannon off the keeper’s near post from the edge of the area.
20 minutes went by with a few Elgin half chances but nothing overly threatening but then after a short period of Elgin domination, East Fife had another chance to clinch the three points with a third goal when Newton won the ball in midfield and picked out Steven with an enormity of space in front of him who raced in on goal only to see the ball bobble narrowly past the post.
With nine minutes left of the game Elgin City manage to pull a goal back when a deflected pass from Antoniazzi found Hester who halved the deficit with a strike in the near post.
After a surviving an array of late chances, Healy cleared the ball up the park giving East Fife a much needed, and much deserved, three points.
FULL TIME: Elgin City 1-2 East Fife
A massive win for the Fifers sees the team find themselves in fourth position in the league table with only 3 points behind Elgin. Next up for the Methil men is a game at Bayview against Gary Naysmith’s Stenhousemuir who sit in 6th position, just a couple of points behind.
Elgin City Team: McHale, Cooper, Draper, Anderson (Mailer 68’), McHardy, Findlay (Lawrence 68’), Cameron, Dingwall, Taylor (Antioniazzi 79’), Reid, Hester
East Fife: Fleming, Murdoch, Quinn, Steele, Newton, Steven, Millar, Ferguson (Slattery 90+1’), Healy, Shepherd (Walls 84’), Trouten
Referee: Barry Cook
Attendance: 625
Report by Andrew Laing