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Match Report - Stranraer

East Fife made the tough trip down to Stair Park to play Stranraer. The Fifers were coming off the back of 3 wins in a row and most recently a 4-0 hammering of St. Johnstone B midweek.

Stevie Crawford made 5 changes to the team that comfortably overcame St. Johnstone a few days ago with Stewart Murdoch, Kieran Millar, Ryan Schiavone and Alex Ferguson all returning to the starting line-up along Taylor Steven, who was making his first starting for the club. Lucas Williamson, Liam Newton, Jack Healy, Alan Trouten and Mikey Cunningham were all handed places on the bench after starting earlier in the week. 

East Fife got the ball rolling and the game underway and stated their intention quickly as they were attempting to dominate and control the game. After 4 minutes, the first chance of the game fell to the visitors when João Balde turned his man and dribbled away quickly before passing out to an unmarked Schiavone inside the box, however his shot is blazed over the bar.

A short while later, in the 8th minute, East Fife had another good chance thanks again to Balde skipping past numerous Stranraer defenders to give himself a clear sight of goal, although his shot is narrowly dragged wide of the post. 

On the 15th minute, completely against the run of play, the Blues took the lead when Anton Brady played a defence splitting pass through to Paul Woods who raced in one-on-one with Fleming to slot past him putting Stranraer 1-0 up. Despite the goal, East Fife didn’t give up and equalised 7 minutes later. Ferguson’s shot from the edge of the box was deflected into the pathway of Schiavone who curled an effort into the top corner of the net.

Midway through the first half Crawford was forced to make his first change of the game as an injured Scott Mercer limped off to be replaced by Williamson. In the 32nd minute, Stranraer scored another as Josh Walker’s free kick found the feet of ex-Fifer Luke Watt for a tap in. The rest of the half went past uneventfully and after three minutes added time the referee blew his whistle for the half. 

Half-Time: Stranraer 2-1 East Fife

At the break, Liam Newton was brought on for Schiavone. The first real chance of the second half fell to East Fife as Steven’s short free kick found Ferguson on the left wing but his cross bounces on the cross bar and, despite the ball falling into a dangerous area, the Stranraer defence were able to clear. 

In the 65th minute, Ferguson received East Fife’s first and only yellow card of the game after cynically breaking up a Stranraer attack. From the resulting free kick, Watt dribbling along the by-line and attempted to curl the ball around the ‘keeper, however Sam Denham was on-hand to clear off the line. Directly after the Stranraer chance, Watt was shown red as an off the ball incident to the confusion of most inside the ground. However, replays showed Watt kicking out at East Fife’s Aaron Steele after the ball was cleared.

With Stranraer down to 10 men, Crawford made a few forward-thinking changes as Healy and Trouten were both brought on with 10 minutes remaining. Multiple chances fell for East Fife however none were good enough to seriously challenge the ‘keeper. That was until the 90th minute when Newton has a shot very close to the goal, however the diving Stranraer ‘keeper prevents the ball from rolling into the back of the net. 

As the game was coming to an end, it appeared as though East Fife’s time had run out, however Healy had other ideas. He picks up the ball in middle of the Stranraer half, magically skipped past multiple Stranraer players to find himself with a clear sight of goal to unleash a shot the that found the back of the net off the underside of the bar to level the game at the very depths.

The full-time whistle went a short while after ending a very entertaining game for the neutral. East Fife host league leaders Dumbarton next as they aim to be the first team take points off of the high-flying Sons this season.

Full-Time: Stranraer 2-2 East Fife

 Report by Andrew Laing

Stranraer Team: Scullion, Watt, Ross, Girvan, Ellis, Grant (Hilton 59'), Brady (Robertson 84'), Woods, Forrest (Hawkshaw 84'), Walker (McLean 59'), Malcolm (Duffy 90+2')

East Fife Team: Fleming, Denham, Mercer (Williamson 27'), Murdoch, Steele, Ferguson (Trouten 70'), Schiavone (Newton 45'), Balde (Healy 77'), Millar, Steven, Shepherd

Attendance: 395

Referee: Scott Lambie

Match Preview - Stranraer

We travel to Stair Park this afternoon to face Stranraer in matchday 5 of our 2022/23 cinch League Two campaign.

Squad News

Brogan Walls, Connor McManus and Lewis Anderson continue to miss out this week along with Scott Gallacher who will undergo an operation on Tuesday.

Pat Slattery and Stewart Murdoch return to today after missing the midweek match against St. Johnstone B through work commitments. Saint’s loan duo of Alex Ferguson and Taylor Steven are also available after being unable to play against their parent club on Tuesday.

Team Colours

East Fife will be in our traditional colours of black/gold strips, black shorts and black stockings with the goalkeeper in all-green.

Stranraer will also be in their traditional colours of blue strips, white shorts and blue/red stockings with the goalkeeper in all-yellow.

Match Tickets

Admission for today’s match is via pay-at-the-gate. Cash payments only are accepted at the turnstiles

Ticket prices are as follows:

Adults - £15

Concessions - £10

Under 16s - £5

Visiting supports will be directed to the appropriate turnstiles. Stop

Match Officials

Match Referee: Scott Lambie

AR1: Scott Anderson

AR2: Scott McGregor

Previous Encounter

The last meeting between the sides took place in February 2022 at Bayview. Goals from Anton Dowds, Scott Agnew (penalty), Danny Denholm and Ryan Wallace saw East Fife race into a 4-0 lead before Stranraer pulled 2 goals back in quick succession through Joao Vitoria and Scott Robertson, but the home side were able to hang on for a 4-2 victory.

East Fife Team: Long, Higgins, Murdoch, Dunlop, Slattery, Denholm (Watson 82’), Agnew, Davidson, Morrison, Wallace (Dunsmore 89’), Dowds (Baker 69’)

Stranraer Team: Currie, Robertson, Allan, Cummins, McIntyre (Elliott 83’), Hamill, McManus, Hilton (Vitoria 28’), Thomson, Stirling, Stevenson

Car Parking

There is limited parking for supporters’ coaches near to the Pavilion.

Matchday Catering

The small Pavilion Bar under the stand to the north of the ground is now open on matchdays for both sets of supporters. Stranraer FC also own the “Fitba Bar” in North Strand Street about 1000 yards from the ground which can cater for larger numbers.

Live Streaming

No live stream is available to viewers with the UK & Ireland.

Viewers outside the UK & Ireland can watch the match via East Fife TV with a monthly or season pass.

Match Report - St. Johnstone B

For the second year running East Fife were pulled out of the hat for the SPFL Trust Trophy alongside St Johnstone B. Last season East Fife were 1-0 victors against the young Perth side, however with a change of manager and various players since, the Fifers were looking to repeat the victory this time out. 

Scott Mercer claimed the captain’s armband in the absence of Stewart Murdoch and 4 changes were made to the starting team that overcame Forfar late on at the weekend. Alan Trouten, Jack Healy, Mikey Cunningham and Lucas Williamson all were integrated into the starting line-up with Ryan Schiavone and Kieran Millar dropping to the bench. Murdoch missed out due to work commitments with St. Johnstone loan duo of Alex Ferguson and Taylor Steven unable to play against their parent club.

Cunningham got the game underway for East Fife. With East Fife controlling the ball at the back, the first ten minutes went by fairly uneventfully. The Saints had a few minor chances, however nothing to seriously challenge Allan Fleming in the East Fife goal.

The first real chance of the opening 15 fell to the hands of East Fife as Mercer sent a beautifully lofted ball over the top of the Saints defence through to Scott Shepherd who was taken out by Saint stopper Jack Willis at he attempted to round the keeper, giving the referee little option but to point to the spot. Penalty specialist, Trouten stepped up and rolled the ball into the bottom right corner, despite the ‘keeper guessing the correct way, giving East Fife an early advantage. 

St Johnstone’s best chance of the game came in the 35th minute as Max Kucheriavyi, on the left wing, passed into an unmarked John Moreland in the centre of the box, but he failed to get a clean connection on the ball, resulting in a comfortable save for Fleming. After a monotonous first half, being mostly dominated in possession by the Fifers, the referee blows the half time whistle.

Half-time: East Fife 1-0 St. Johnstone B

One change was made at the break as Trouten was replaced by Millar. The intensity was clearly upped from both teams after half time with The referee dished out his first yellow card of the game in the 54th minute with Scott Shepherd the recipient for dissent. Shepher was replaced by Schiavone shortly after.

2 minutes after Schiavone’s entrance to the game, East Fife doubled their advantage when a deep corner from Balde was only partially cleared to the feet of Scott Mercer at the back post who sent an excellent strike into the bottom corner giving East Fife a 2-0 lead.

The young Saints finished the match as Liam Parker is sent off for a second booking for tripping up Balde. The red card gave East Fife a stronger hold on the game, as the dominance from the Methil men continued. East Fife had a few good chances one being a Mercer free kick which found Sam Denham at the back post however his headed effort hit the side netting.

Stevie Crawford made his third substitute of the match when Liam Newton made way for Brendan Ramsay, making his competitive debut for the club. 2 minutes later East Fife added a third as Jack Healy played in Mikey Cunningham who ended up with a one on one with Wills to slot past the keepers near post gaining his first competitive goal of his East Fife career.

In the 85th minute, Balde was brought off to a standing ovation after an incredible performance with Sam Martin came on, also making his competitive debut for the club and made in instant impact.

After various blocked and saved shots in the Saint’s penalty area, the ball fall to Healy who also saw his effort blocked however it was fell into the path of Sam, who had a gaping goal in front of him, to slot it home to make it 4-0.

Late on St. Johnstone B almost added a consolation however Fleming was able to make the save. The referee blew his whistle for full time ending the night 4-0 to the Fifers. East Fife will find out who they play in the third round of the challenge cup on Monday including the possibility of a trip to either Wales or Northern Ireland.

The Methil men have the long journey to Stranraer to look forward to on Saturday as the team hope to get a result and performance for the traveling supporters to enjoy. 

Full-Time: East Fife 4-0 St. Johnstone B

Andrew Laing