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Match Report - Under 20s v Kelty Hearts

East Fife 2-2 Kelty Hearts (East Fife win 5-4 on penalties), Friday 15^th December 2023

MGM Timber Bayview Stadium, Knockout Cup R1

The Young Fifers squeezed past Kelty Hearts’ U20s side needing penalty kicks to overcome our Fife rivals. The line-up included many who have featured in and around the first team, and the squad is full of experience considering their age.

They got off to a stellar start too, taking the lead inside 5 minutes. A failed attempted clearance ended up right in the path of Bodhi Taylor. The striker readied himself, and launched his half volley into the far corner, scoring a true poacher’s goal.

Matty Rollo then had to make a fantastic save, just seconds after the restart, and did so very well, in what was a strong showing for the youngster.

In the opening stages, it became apparent that the Kelty Hearts’ tactics were to go from the long drop kick from the ‘keeper up to the attacker and go from there. Credit goes to Adam Wilkie and Charlie Murray at the back, who both did a stellar job in snuffing out the danger.

Just after the half an hour mark, Rollo did excellently once again, as he rushed off his line, into the danger zone, cutting out a cutback, and launching an East Fife counterattack. It sadly came to nothing, but the speed, and distribution from Rollo was very impressive.

In the 18th minute, the Young Fifers doubled their advantage, this time through Brendan Ramsay. It came from a well implemented high press, as the team worked together to dispossess the Kelty winger, before Ramsay got onto the end of a floated ball and fired his shot into the bottom right corner.

After the initial quick start, both sides settled into the game soon after, and the game was largely played in the midfield, with both sides defending resolutely. Kelty got themselves back into the game just before half time, when they capitalised on a stramash in the box from a corner kick.

Half Time: East Fife U20s 2-1 Kelty Hearts U20s

The second half saw the game break down much more than the first, with both sides creating a few half chances, but never really looking like scoring. The equaliser, when it did come, came from absolutely nothing as well.

It wasn’t until the 75th minute that we saw it, and nobody knew much about it, including the scorer! The Kelty right back sclaffed his cross, for lack of a better word, though the angle in which it came down dumbfounded Rollo and found itself in the back of the net.

That was a sucker punch for the Fifers, causing the game to eventually go to penalties.

It has to be said, that every one of the Fifers who started, and came on looked impressive, and all caused bother, in one way or another. Notably, the pace in the Fife front line was blistering, and I trust that it will cause more teams issues in weeks to come.

The shootout came around with winners advancing to the second round of the Knockout Cup.

Jude Black stepped up first, and beat the ‘keeper, with a well struck pen handing the Fifers the lead. The Kelty Hearts taker replied, 1-1. Next up was Brendan Ramsay, who also struck his well, giving the Fifers the lead for the second time. Like the first, Kelty replied, making it two apiece.

Full back Tyler Dickson took Fife’s third, and made no mistake about it, 3-2 Fife. Kelty stood firm though, answering back for 3 apiece. 16-year-old Jaiden Fairley was next, and the central midfielder tucked his penalty away nicely, putting the pressure back on the visitors. As the saying goes though, pressure is for tyres and footballs, and the Kelty youngster answered back with a tidy finish.

The last man to step up for the Fifers was Adam Wilkie, who has been in the Fife set up for a number of years. He once again tucked his away, making it sudden death for Kelty Hearts. Finally, Kelty cracked, and the 5th penalty was ballooned over the bar, allowing East Fife to progress into the second round of the Knockout Cup, and handing new Under 20s head coach Aaron Anderson his first victory as gaffer.

After our League Cup 2nd round tie vs East Kilbride was postponed earlier in the week, we have to wait until the 12th of January to see the young Fifers back in action (unless the East Kilbride game is rearranged of course). That game would be the second round of the Knockout Cup, after the draw has been completed.

East Fife Team: Rollo, Dickson, Briggs, Wilkie, Murray, Ramsay, Black, Taylor (Stewart), McCafferty, Leddy (Allan), Fairley. Subs not used: Menzies, Donaldson, Morrison

Match Highlights - Stenhousemuir

Highlights from yesterday's match against Stenhousemuir along with post-match reaction from Greig McDonald, Nathan Austin and Jonathan Page.

Match Preview - Stenhousmuir

Oli Anderson previews today’s match against Stenhousemuir.

After last week’s resounding victory over Elgin at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium, the Methil Milan is gearing up to face arguably their biggest challenge of the season so far. We are ready to venture over to Ochilview Park to face the highflying Stenhousemuir. The Warriors find themselves on the summit of cinch League Two, and have won all 6 of their last games, meaning that we will have to bring the fight to Gary Naysmith’s men this afternoon.

Last Week

The Fifers strolled to our third 4-0 win of the season last Saturday, when we saw off Elgin, putting right our disappointing showing at Borough Briggs earlier in the season. A Brogan Walls brace, and goals from Scott Shepherd and Nathan Austin saw us completely overpower Elgin, in a game where they only had one shot on goal in the 90 minutes.

Stenhousemuir snatched all three points at the death last week, as James Berry scored in the 87th minute to beat Dumbarton 1-0 at the Rock, which is no easy feat.

The cinch League Two Standings:

A win in our game in hand against The Spartans could allow us to crack on and really challenge the top 4, as victory in that game would see us leapfrog Bonnyrigg Rose, should we be able to match/better their results.

Last Week in the League

Bonnyrigg Rose 1-1 Peterhead

Clyde FC 2-2 Stranraer FC

Dumbarton 0-1 Stenhousemuir

East Fife 4-0 Elgin City

The Spartans 1-0 Forfar Athletic.

This Week’s Fixtures (League Position)

Elgin City (9) vs The Spartans (4) @ Borough Briggs.

Forfar Athletic (8) vs Dumbarton (3) @ Station Park

Peterhead (2) vs Clyde (10) @ The Balmoor Stadium

Stenhousemuir (1) vs East Fife (6) @ Ochilview

Stranraer (7) vs Bonnyrigg Rose (5) @ Stair Park

The Form

The Hosts

Stenny have made no mistakes in their last 6 outings, and have won all 6 of their games, only conceding three goals in the process. In fact, the last time that the Warriors conceded was on the 11th of November, as they overcame The Spartans 3-2 in a 5 goal thriller. Their biggest win came against Stranraer, as they ran out 3-0 winners three weeks ago. Their man of the moment is Matthew Aitken, who has bagged 6 in the last 6, so is definitely one to watch.

The Fife

We currently hold a form which shows 6 points from 5 cinch League Two games, and a premature exit in the Scottish Cup, which is certainly far from ideal.

Our 2 wins came against Clyde on the road, and against Elgin, last week, at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium. There were lots of similarities in the games, which look to be somewhat a mirror of the other. Both games saw fast starts, with us leading 2-0 at the break. On top of this, Nathan Austin and Brogan Walls both found themselves on the scoresheets in the games, with Walls bagging a brace against Elgin City.

Unfortunately, not all of our results have been quite as emphatic.

We have succumbed to 4 defeats in our last 6, losing to Dunbar in the Scottish Cup 1-0, through a penalty in what was a devastating game. Before witnessing two equally gut-wrenching performances in the weeks that followed, against Peterhead and Dumbarton, failing to score in either.

Our last defeat was in the capital, losing out to Bonnyrigg 4-2. We looked slack at set pieces on the day, which proved to be our downfall, conceding from a concerningly deep free kick and two penalties. Austin once again found himself on the scoresheet however, which gives some hope that he could be up and running now for the remainder of the season.

Previous Encounter

The less said about the last time the sides met the better, so I’ll try to keep it brief.

Stenny are the best side I’ve seen at Bayview this season, and controlled the game against us for the duration. They broke the deadlock through Gregor Buchanan in the first half, before a stoppage time goal from Adam Brown delivered the two punch knockout. It was disappointing day at the office, though one I am confident the Methil Men can rectify today.

Squad News

Outs- Pat Slattery remains the only players still on the treatment table after picking up on knock in training last week.

Ins- Alan Trouten makes his return having served his suspension last week.

Team Colours

East Fife will don the 120th Anniversary black and gold top, matched with white socks and shorts, while the goalkeeper will be clad in the new, all yellow kit for the tie.

Stenhousemuir will also wear their home kit at the weekend, wearing a maroon shirt, with matching socks, and white shorts too. The Warriors goalie will wear black this afternoon.

Match Tickets

You can purchase tickets online ahead of today’s match

Prices:

Adult- £15

Concession- £10

U16- £5

Live Streaming

Live Streaming of the game will be available on East Fife TV for our international fans. This can be accessed through a monthly or season pass. You can access this HERE! There is no live streaming options for viewers within the UK and Ireland this weekend.

Officials

The on-pitch official on Saturday will be Andy Gamble, while his assistants running the line are David Dunne and Steven Wilson.