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Match Report - Bonnyrigg Rose

East Fife 5-0 Bonnyrigg Rose, Saturday 5^th October, William Hill League 2, MGM Timber Bayview Stadium

We extended our lead at the top of the William Hill league 2 on Saturday to 4 points, following a thumping, yet perhaps flattering 5-0 win over Bonnyrigg Rose at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium.

Dick Campbell's men started well off the pace, with Bonnyrigg coming out of the traps much faster than the Fifers. However, as they have showed all season so far, the Methil Milan were threatening whilst on the attack. With 15 minutes on the clock, loanee Andrew Tod skipped in behind the Rosey Posey backline, where he was brought down by Greig Allen (on loan from Rangers). The referee adjudged that the challenge was a foul, and also denied a goals-scoring opportunity, without making a play for the ball, so as a result he awarded the Fifers a penalty, and sent Allen packing, which made for a rather lacklustre debut. Alan Trouten stood over the penalty, and made absolutely no mistakes, firing home for the Fifers. 1-0. 

There was not too much in the first half following the goal, with the two sides evenly matched, despite East Fife having the man advantage. With just moments left in the first half though, Trouten made it two for himself, and two for the Fife, with a remarkable run, beating the offside trap and slotting his headed effort home.

We continued to struggle in the second half in terms of performance, though the goals still came incredibly naturally for them. Firstly, Alan Trouten grabbed his hat trick with a header from a corner

Andrew Tod was next to test the goalkeeper, forcing Ritchie into an unfortunate own goal. The young Par launched his effort off the crossbar, and the resulting bounce cannoned off Ritchie’s back and bobbled over the line, for 4-0 to East Fife.

With ten minutes to play, the management team introduced a bright youngster, Masson Winn, who made his debut for the Fifers. It was his second competitive game in just two days, following a developmental league cup tie against Linlithgow Rose, where he scored a brace in a 3-0 win for the young Fifers. Winn looked sharp when he came on and found himself in space with five minutes to go, with an intelligent run fooling the Bonnyrigg defence. Winn’s shot was well struck, though it was into the path of Ritchie, who denied the debutant a goal in his first professional appearance.

The game looked dead and buried, though Andrew Tod, who was chasing his first professional goal, was not finished. His second attempt, this time in the 90th minute saw the ‘keeper rooted to the spot, as Tod headed past him from a corner making it East Fife five in the end!

Reporters Man of the Match: Alan Trouten

Who else? A second hattrick of the season, taking him to 13 goals in 14 appearances already, Trouten was the clear choice this week. He also showed great versatility, playing off the striker early doors, before dropping deep later in the game and nullifying the visitors.

East Fife – Fleming, Newton, Slattery (Laaref 69’), Munro, Walker (Docherty 45’ (Winn 79’)), Millar, McManus, Trouten, Healy (Shepherd 70’), Tod, Austin. Subs not used: Gilfillan, Norey, Briggs, McFarlane.

Bonnyrigg Rose – Ritchie, Mailer, Allen, Connelly (Gardiner 81’), Murphy, Higginbotham (McGachie 63’), Currie, Barrett, Arnott (Watson 62’), Ferrie, Ross (Lorimer 20’). Subs not used: Andres, McRoberts, Scarborough, Martin.

Referee – Alex Shepherd

Attendance - 792

Report by Oli Anderson

Photograph - East Fife Media

New Partnership with Seescape

East Fife Football Club are delighted to announce a partnership with Fife based charity Seescape, who support blind/partially sighted individuals, providing a season ticket for the use of Seescape service users. 

Sandy Allan (pictured below), a Seescape client and EFFC fan, recently went along to the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium to collect the season ticket on behalf of Seescape.   

Stephen Mill, East Fife FC Disability Access Officer and audio-descriptive commentator, commented: “Having partnerships with community groups such as Seescape is really important to all of us here at East Fife FC. We are determined to welcome as many fans as possible here to the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium for matches and I really hope this initiative encourages those who may not have the confidence to come to games, to take advantage of this offer and give it a try.    

“Football has given many of us some real highs and lows over the years but the one thing that brings us all together is the love of the game. This is a great opportunity to get more people involved and I would encourage people to do so.”

Seescape, formally Fife Society for the Blind, is the leading provider of support services for people with a visual impairment in Fife.

Match Report - The Spartans

The Spartans 0-1 East Fife, Saturday 28^th September 2024, William Hill League 2, Ainslie Park

East Fife climbed to the summit of the William Hill League 2 on Saturday after a brilliant away win at The Spartans.

A slow start from the Fifers saw Allan Fleming (who retained his place in the starting lineup following an excellent performance at home to Peterhead) forced into a strong save from Hamish Ritchie in the opening five minutes.

On top of this, skipper Stewart Murdoch’s afternoon came to a rather abrupt halt as he had to be substituted early doors due to injury. This, however, opened the door for Jess Norey to come back into the fold following his spell out of the team.

Chances then started to flow for the Fifers after we settled back into the game, with Trouten challenging Carswell from the edge of the box. Five minutes later, Nathan Austin stood over a free kick which was just outside of the area. Despite hopes he would match his feats from earlier in the season, this one found the wrong side of the crossbar and the score remained goalless.

The Spartans were not without threat, unfortunately, and just after the half an hour mark, ex-Fifer Brogan Walls set up the chance of the half. He dinked a routine free kick into Ayrton Sonkur, who’s header challenged Fleming. Flem made no mistakes and tipped the ball over the crossbar, with Fleming again called into action to keep out an effort from the resulting corner.

That took the sides in at the break goalless, in what was an incredibly tight game.

During the half time interval, the Fifers made a change which would prove crucial in the contest. Jack Healy came on for Reis Peggie, and he made an instant impact on the game. Jack beat his man on the wing and raced to the by-line. He whipped in a cross for new signing Andrew Tod, though it floated over him, and into the path of Trouten, who launched an effort at Carswell, though the goalkeeper saved with ease.

Healy continued to be a nuisance for The Spartans and created another opportunity bang on the hour mark, this time for Nathan Austin. Jack intercepted a rather sloppy back pass and pinged the ball across to Fash, though The Spartans’ keeper pulled his defence from the gutter with yet another smart stop.

They say things come in threes and that certainly was the case for Healy, and this time it paid dividends! The Fife’s number 11 bombed forward with the ball at his feet before sending a beautiful early cross which looked destined for Trouten. It bounced over Trouts though, and into the path of Fash, who slotted home with a beautiful finish into the bottom corner, securing his tenth goal of the season in all competitions.

Carswell continued to perform for The Spartans, even after East Fife ramped up the pressure. Just minutes after East Fife opened the scoring, we went for two. With Andrew Tod and Alan Trouten both having efforts in quick succession forcing a double save from the goalie.

East Fife continued to push, though we just could not put the game to bed. We had one last chance before the full-time whistle, as Austin found himself through on goal in a one-on-one scenario, though the goalie held firm and denied Fash.

That was the last chance of the game, which saw East Fife walk away with all three points, and due to results elsewhere, saw us go top of the league, somewhere we would like to stay for the foreseeable.

Reporter’s Man of the Match: Jack Healy.

It is not often that we a see a substitute walk away with the man of the match award, though Healy completely changed the game last Saturday. Not only was he pivotal in setting up the only goal of the contest, but his introduction in the match put The Spartans to the sword, as he created numerous chances, and caused all sorts of bother at Ainslie Park. It was a Saturday to remember for Healy.

The Spartans – Carswell, Waugh, Denholm (Hunter 89’), Sonkur, P Watson, Dishington (Whittaker 89’), Ritchie (K Watson 71’), Walls (Stowe 71’), Craigen, Whyte, Henderson. Subs not used: Scott, Wylie, Meek.

East Fife – Fleming, Murdoch (Norey 8’), Newton (Slattery 71’), Munro, Walker (Docherty 80’), Millar, McManus, Trouten, Peggie (Healy 45’), Tod (Shepherd 80’), Austin. Subs not used: Laaref, McFarlane.

Referee – Alastair Grieve

Attendance - 589