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Fifers Held At Home By Stranraer

Ladbrokes League 1

Saturday 9^th December 2017

Bayview Stadium

East Fife 1 (Duggan 23’)

Stranraer 1 (Wallace 70’)

East Fife XI: M Hurst, Dunsmore, Piggott, Page, Linton, Millar, Docherty, Lamont (Mutch 88’), Wilkie (H Hurst 81’), Smith (Willis 65’), Duggan

Subs: Goodfellow, Flanagan, Watson, Wilson

Booked: Docherty, Dunsmore, Millar

Stranraer XI: Belford, Hamill, Barron, Neill, Dick, Beith (Robertson 90’), Bell, Anderson (Okoh 86’), turner (Woods 66’), Thomson, Wallace

Subs: McLaren, Stoney, McGowan, Lang

Booked: Dick

Dismissed: Dick

Referee: Steven Kirkland

Attendance: 521

East Fife welcomed Stranraer to Bayview in Ladbrokes League 1 encounter where both sides played out a highly competitive 1-1 draw. Manager Darren Young made one change to the side that lost to Queen’s Park last time out with Chris Kane making way for Scott Linton, who made his return from injury. The visitors sat 1 point and 1 place behind East Fife prior to kick off and both teams proved evenly matched over the 90 minutes.

Stranraer started the brightest and had their first sight of goal inside the opening minutes when former Fifer Ryan Wallace found himself in space but dragged his shot wide of target. Stranraer threatened again after 15 minutes but Kyle Turner could only fire straight at Mark Hurst from 20-yards. The home side were growing into the game and were so close to opening the scoring on 17 minutes when excellent play by Kyle Wilkie inside the area and laid the ball off for Chris Duggan who was denied by a fine save from Stranraer ‘keeper Cameron Belford low to his left. Duggan went close again a few minutes later, this time his shot deflected behind for a corner.

A quick break from Stranraer saw Liam Dick find himself in space on the edge of the area and should have made more of the opportunity but fired in a shot that was straight at Hurst on 22 minutes before East Fife opened the scoring moments later. A lovely pass inside from Aaron Dunsmore picked out Duggan who found the bottom right-hand corner for his 9^th goal of the season. Duggan had the chance to double the lead on 29 minutes when he got on the end of a corner from Scott Linton but sent his header wide at the near post. Duggan found space down the right to fire in a cross along the 6-yard box which was cleared as far as Mark Docherty on the edge of the area but he just missed the target shortly before the break.

The second period started with a moment of controversy when Duggan latched on to a poor back-pass from Steven Bell and was left with only Belford to beat only to be flagged off-side. East Fife had started the second half the way they had finished the first and Mark Lamont almost added to the lead just before the hour mark when his cross from the right hit the post before ricocheting off Stranraer defender Jamie Hamill and tricking past the post. Belford produced a fine double save from the resulting corner when first he kept out Kevin Smith’s header and the back post before denying Jonathan Page with the follow-up.

Smith had a glorious opportunity to put the game to bed on 63 minutes when he was picked out by Duggan but sent his shot wide from 12-yards with only Belford to beat. East Fife were left to rue their missed chance as the visitors were now in the ascendency. Hamill was denied by a good save from Hurst before Wallace levelled the game on 70 minutes when he found the back on the net from 25-yards; a deflection taking the ball away from Hurst. Angus Beith looked to have given Stranraer the lead on 76 minutes but was denied by a goal line clearance from Dunsmore before Hurst pulled off a sensational save to keep out a strike from Paul Woods that looked destined for the top corner 7 minutes from time. Stranraer finished the game with 10-men when Liam Dick was dismissed after picking up his second yellow of the afternoon for a foul on Ross Mutch.

Overall, a draw was probably a fair result with both sides having their goalkeepers to thank for keeping them in the game. Next up for East Fife is a home tie against league-leader Ayr United.

EFtv Live Stream v Stranraer & Ayr United

The final two trials of live streaming of East Fife home games will take place for the Stranraer and Ayr United games on the 9^th and 16^th of December respectively. The opportunity to view these games are open to both home and away fans who are outside the UK and Ireland.

Following feedback from our previous trials, we will be assessing a different sharing platform that should eliminate the issues we’ve been having with the commentary plus the picture should be much clearer. Access to the stream will be through the Club Website and you will be prompted to enter an individual password that you will receive beforehand via email.

To sign up, visit www.eastfifeshop.com and purchase each game for only £5.

Fifers Beaten At Hampden

Ladbrokes League 1

Saturday 2^nd December 2017

Hampden Park

Queen’s Park 2 (Donnelly 18', 51')

East Fife 1 (Duggan 15')

Queen’s Park XI: White, Summers, McGhee, Iredale, Burns, McVey, Fotheringham, Leitch (Duff 70’), Galt, Mortimer (McLennan 86’), Donnelly (Docherty 77’)

Subs: Cummins, Gibson, Brady, Whelan

Booked: Summers, Fotheringham, Galt

East Fife XI: M Hurst, Dunsmore, Kane (Linton 68’), Page, Piggott, Docherty, Lamont (Flanagan 83’), Smith, Wilkie, Millar (G Hurst 68’), Duggan

Subs: Goodfellow, Watson, Wilson, Willis

Booked: Dunsmore, Piggott

Referee: Stephen Finnie

Attendance: 506

East Fife travelled to the national stadium to face Queen’s Park in Ladbrokes League 1 but left empty-handed after a performance that was in stark contrast to that which had put Airdrieonians to the sword last weekend. For the first time this season Manager Darren Young was able to name an unchanged starting line-up with the only change being fit-again Scott Linton replacing Ben Reilly on the bench.

The home side had the first opportunity of the match on 6 minutes when Sean Burns found an opening down the left and curled in a shot but it was an easy take for East Fife ‘keeper Mark Hurst. At the other end, Kevin Smith picked out Mark Docherty on the left-hand side of the penalty box but his cross was deflected into the arms of Michael White.

Queen’s Park had had the better of the opening exchanges but it was the visitors who found themselves in front on 15 minutes. Chris Duggan latched onto a long-ball over the top from Aaron Dunsmore and lifted the ball over the ‘keeper for his 8^th goal of the season. East Fife weren’t ahead for long, however, after Billy Mortimer worked some space for himself down the left and cut the ball back for Luke Donnelly who found the back of the net from 18-yards. The home side could have been in front a few minutes later but Donnelly failed to take advantage of a promising position after David Galt’s initial shot was blocked.

Docherty sent in a free kick from 40-yards for East Fife on 30 minutes which Smith managed to get on the end of but his back header was collected by White. Smith had another chance 5 minutes later when he got on the end of Docherty’s cross from the left but was unable to find the target.

East Fife weren’t at the races in the opening 45 minutes and big improvements were needed in the second period.

The visitors were awarded a free kick 25-yards from goal shortly after the re-start. Smith stepped up and cleared the wall but his strike didn’t have enough power behind it to trouble White. Queen’s Park took the lead on 50 minutes when Robbie Leitch sent in a cross from the left with the outside of his foot which East Fife failed to deal with which allowed Donnelly to claim his second of the afternoon with a strike from 15-yards.

The home side were well in the ascendency and should have added to their lead just before the hour mark with Gregor Fotheringham got on the end of a free kick but his shot rebounded off the crossbar before the whistle went for a foul on the ‘keeper. Mortimer was next to go close the home side when he was sent through 1-on-1 with Hurst but was unlucky to see his shot come back off the post.

East Fife were looking for a way back into the game and were close to an equaliser on 74 minutes when a free kick from near the corner flag was cleared by the Queen’s Park defence but only as far as Docherty on the edge of area but his goal-bound effort was deflected behind by Burns. The visitors had one last chance to salvage something from the game inside injury time but Jonathan Page was denied by a point-blank save from White but, in truth, the equaliser would have been far more than East Fife deserved for the game.

East Fife had, quite rightly, taken a lot of praise for their performance against Airdrieonians but were unable to reach the same standards this week as Queen’s Park ran out deserved winners.