Elgin City 1-1 East Fife, Saturday 26th August 2023
Borough Briggs, cinch League Two
Another disappointing result for the Fifers, as we drew 1-1 with Elgin City at Borough Briggs this past Saturday. Despite a much improved second half showing, a lacklustre first 45 was enough to deny the Black and Gold our first League win of the season.
City scored the opener inside the first 15 minutes, as forward Matty Wright latched onto a through ball that slid through the defence, before he coolly slotted the ball past Fleming, giving East Fife another mountain to climb.
The Methil Men created little, and the contest was fought largely in the middle of the park, though Healy was a stand-out from the wide position. On the stroke of half time, he hit a tidy free kick which forced a reaction save, before Elgin hit on the break, looking to double their lead. Fleming was called into action, to do what he does best, as the stopper swatted the ball out of the top bins, to give the Fifers a small foothold on the game.
The team looked low on confidence in the second half, as they played some incredible football leading up to the 18-yard box, but players were either too hesitant, or too hasty to release the ball, and challenge the Elgin ‘keeper. The was first seen just after the beginning of the second half when Schiavone struggled to get the ball out of his feet from a good position.
This looked to be the case again for Austin 20 minutes later, though the ball was already out of play before Fash could bring it down.
We relied on the old guard to give us some life, and they did just that. Healy and Austin linked up, with a crisp one-two, which saw the former being dragged down inside the box. Trouten stepped up and scored his 51st career penalty, maintaining a 93% conversion rate, in a span of almost 15 years.
The Methil Men then had the ball in the net to take the lead with 8 minutes left on the clock, though the referee adjudged that there was a foul in the box, and as a result the goal did not stand.
A back-and-forth end to what was a mediocre game at times, saw Fife and Elgin share the spoils. The course of the game made it clear that this was unfortunately two points dropped, rather than a point gained on the day.
Report by Oli Anderson
Elgin City – McHale, Cooney (Cooper 90+5’), Mackenzie (Dolzanski 90+5’), Draper, Ewan, MacEwan (Taylor 85’), Dingwall, Cameron, Wright, Harvey (Barron 70’), MacLeman. Subs not used: Hoban, Cairns
East Fife – Fleming, Murdoch, Page, Docherty (Philp 78’), Easton, McManus, Trouten, Walls (Austin 65’), Schiavone (Nicol 62’), Shepherd, Healy
Referee – Colin Whyte
Attendance - 542