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Oli Anderson previews tonight’s Fife Cup tie against Burntisland Shipyard

East Fife have yet another break in league action tonight, as we host East of Scotland Second Division side Burntisland Shipyard in the second round of the Fife Cup. Coming off the back of an incredible 4-0 win against Stranraer at the weekend, the boys are on a high, as they currently remain undefeated in 6 (over 90 minutes). Our opponents find themselves in a comfortable midtable position of the 3rd tier of the East of Scotland Leagues, sitting in 8th place. Perhaps fortunate for the Fife, the game has been moved away from Recreation Park in Burntisland, where the Shippy are on good form, recording 12 points from their last 6 at home. On the other hand, they are struggling on the road this season and have only recorded 1 win away from their home comforts.

Last week, due to the adverse weather, the 2017/18 Fife Cup champions, Burntisland, were unable to fulfil their fixture against fellow Fifers Kennoway Star Hearts. This means that their most recent game came while we were sunning it up on our European adventure! Shippy hosted high-flying Stirling University. The university side ran out 4-2 winners, and Burntisland Shipyard’s match reporter described their defending as their “Achillies Heel” marking poor defending and indecision as catalysts to their loss. This was backed up by manager Lee Richardson who said:

“What is most disappointing is that Stirling did not have to work for their goals. We (Burntisland) are gifting teams goals game after game, and until it stops, we are going to struggle.”

In East Fife’s casual win on Saturday, overcoming Stranraer 4 goals to nil, there was some truly impressive football on display, and after the game, when asked about the performance, Greig McDonald said:

“I thought we were excellent from minute one, I really do. We picked up where we left off last week. We have been playing at a high level for a number of weeks now, and are now only at 1 defeat in 8, but unfortunately there are too many draws in that. We wanted to stamp our authority early doors, and I thought that we did that. We got off to a good start, it was important to do that having the wind behind us in the first half. It wasn’t just the starters though, everyone who came on was bang at it.”

Fun Facts from the Fife Cup

  • The Fife Cup was the first trophy lifted by the Methil Milan, back in the 1907/08 season, when the Fifers overcame Lochgelly United 4-2.
    • A further tidbit from that game, the captain of the Fife side that day was Tommy Fitzpatrick, the grandfather of current Associate Director Stephen Mill.
  • East Fife’s last two League Titles have come hand in hand with a Fife Cup victory too, as in 2015-16 we overcame Cowdenbeath 1-0 and in 2007-08 we overcame Raith Rovers 2-0.
  • We have appeared in 35 Finals, in the competition’s 141-year history, and have won the Final on 16 occasions, which gives us a 46% success rate in the finals.
    • In bizarre fashion, in the years 1953/54 and 1974/75, East Fife played in the Final and drew! (2-2 with Raith in ’54, and 3-3 with Cowdenbeath in ’75).

The Quarter Finals of the Fife Cup

Dundonald Bluebell 4-4 Cowdenbeath (Cowdenbeath win 6-5 via penalty kicks)

East Fife vs Burntisland Shipyard

Raith Rovers vs Hill of Beath Hawthorn (date tbc)

St Andrews United vs Dunfermline Athletic (Postponed on April 25th new date tbc)

Kelty Hearts bowed out in the First Round, losing out on Penalties to Raith Rovers in July.

Previous Encounter

The most recent encounter I can find came in the preseason of the 2021/22 season, where Darren Young’s East Fife side romped to a 15-0 victory in the friendly against Shippy. There were plenty goalscorers on the day, with current skipper Stuart Murdoch among the scorers, grabbing a brace. Fife legend Kevin Smith also grabbed a brace on the day. Then-trialist Mikey Cunningham also bagged two on the day, as well as goals from Danny Denholm, and a hattrick from Sean Brown in the second half all contributed to making it a dismal day for Shippy.

Squad News

Outs- There are no injuries to note tonight for the first time this season!!!

Ins- With an important Scottish Cup tie at the weekend, Manager Greig McDonald has augmented the squad with a number of Under 20s players. Greig also hinted at the weekend that tonight could see the return to action of long-term absentees Pat Slattery and Charlie Murray.

Team Colours

East Fife will wear the Taxi Centre-sponsored pink away kit tonight, with black shorts and socks, while the goalkeeper will be clad in all yellow kit for the tie.

Burntisland Shipyard will wear their traditional colours for the tie, donning a white shirt, with black shorts and socks. The Shippy goalie will be in all lime green for the contest.

Match Admission

Season Tickets are not valid for our Fife Cup campaign. Tickets are Pay at the Gate with prices below:

NOTE: Like Saturday, only the away end will be open for supporters.

Adults- £7

Concessions (Over 65s/Disabled/U16)- £4

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 stream for viewers within the UK or Ireland.

Officials

The on-pitch official on Saturday will be Alan Budd while his assistants running the line are Taylor Martin and Scott Morris.

Refreshments

The stadium bar will be open from 7pm pre-kick off this evening! We welcome you to join us for a drink before the match.

MON THE FIFE!

East Fife 4-0 Stranraer, Saturday 21st October 2023

MGM Timber Bayview Stadium, cinch League Two

Our fine form continued last weekend, though this time results followed, as we cruised past ex-Fifer Scott Agnew’s Stranraer side, romping to a 4-0 victory on the day at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium. The impressive scoreline was matched with an equally impressive performance, which saw our goals come from all over the park, giving the Fife faithful something to cheer during the adverse weather conditions. The positive result has now stretched East Fife’s unbeaten record in the league to 4 games and has moved us within 5 points of the fabled spots, and more importantly up to 5 away from the trapdoor.

We started the game well, looking very positive and playing on the front foot. This brough us our first chance on the ten-minute mark when Nathan Austin made a fantastic run into the box. Unfortunately for Fash, the pass was slightly overhit, and it rolled out for a goal kick before he could pull the trigger.

That did not deter us however, and the deadlock was broken after 18 minutes, when Millar converted from a well worked free-kick routine. Connor McManus laid the ball off to Healy, before the local lad floated a ball to the back post for Fife’s number 4 to tap home.

Stranraer started warming into the game after the opener and forced Jacob Comerford into some top-quality defending to keep our clean sheet intact.

Any momentum that the Blues were building up was promptly crushed after 40 minutes, when some silky soccer from the Fifers doubled our advantage. Docherty used his blistering pace to latch onto Shepherd’s through ball. The full-back sprayed a ball across the face of goal which was met by none other than Fash. The forward fired the ball into the net, capping off a fantastic team move.

Half Time: East Fife 2-0 Stranraer

Fleming was called into action right after the half time whistle, preventing a guaranteed goal after a defensive mishap gave Stranraer a chance early-doors.

Just before the hour mark, McManus made it three when Newton spun his man on the flank. The full back then fed in the creative midfielder, who played a 1-2 with Shepherd and converted with a tidy finish which was deemed a goal of the season contender by East Fife TV commentator Daniel Hughes and East Fife Legend Pat Slattery.

Both goalkeepers had their best moments in the late stages of the game. Firstly, Budinaukus did well to keep it at 3 with 20 minutes still on the clock, when a heavy touch from Austin denied the forward his brace. Before up the other end, Fleming did equally well to clear up a stramash in the box, ending any threat from Stranraer in the game then and there.

We deserved more than just the 3 goals, and we got just that in injury time when Liam Newton made a darting run from left back to the penalty spot to fire a loose ball home, handing East Fife just their second league win this season and done so in emphatic fashion.

Heads turn to tomorrow now, where the Methil Men will host Burntisland Shipyard in the second round of the Fife Cup.

Report by Oli Anderson

East Fife – Fleming, Newton, Docherty, Easton, Comerford, Millar (Walls 63’), McManus, Trouten (Hambrook 83’), shepherd (Mitchell 71’), Healy (Nicol 71’), Austin (Schiavone 83’). Subs not used: Beveridge, Murdoch

Stranraer – Budinauckas, Robertson, Girvan, Ross (O McDonald 85’), McIntosh, Dolan (Armour 70’), Forrest, Sneddon, Grant (Walker 70’), Orr (Hawkshaw 62’), Lang. Subs not used: M McDonald, Williamson, Strachan

Referee – Alex Shepherd

Attendance - 404

Our Fife Cup 2nd round tie against Burntisland Shipyard takes place tomorrow (24th October 2023) at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium with an 8:00pm kick off. Admission prices for the game have been agreed as follows:

Admission Prices

Adults - £7

Concessions - £4

Season tickets are not valid for this game. Admission is via pay-at-the-gate.

As the clean up from Storm Babet is still ongoing, only the away end of the stadium will be open for this match.

There is no live stream available for viewers within the UK & Ireland this weekend, however overseas supporters can watch the match via East Fife TV with a monthly or season pass. 

Highlights from yesterday's match against Stranraer along with post-match reaction from Greig McDonald, Kieran Millar and Allan Fleming