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Ladbrokes League 1, Hampden Stadium, Saturday 4th February 2017

Queen’s Park 2 (Zanatta 28’, Brady 36’)

East Fife 2 (Duggan 49’, Robinson 73’)

Man of the Match: Luke Watt

Queen’s Park XI: Muir, Millen, Wharton, McKernon, Mitchell (Orsi 76’), Cummins, Woods, Brown, Zanatta (Gault 76’), Brady (Docherty 56’), McIlduff

Subs Not Used: Fotheringham, McVey, Burns, MacPherson

Booked: Brown, Brady, Orsi

East Fife XI: Goodfellow, Slattery, Page, Kerr, Brown, Duggan (Insall 79’), Smith (Austin 90’), Robinson, Penrice, Paterson, Watt

Subs Not Used: Hurst, Lamont, Trialist

Booked: Robinson, Page, Penrice, Smith, Paterson

Referee: Gavin Ross

Attendance: 566

East Fife travelled to the National Stadium looking to keep their impressive run of 10 games without a loss and succeeded thanks to a fantastic second half display. East Fife made two changes to the side which drew with Stranraer the previous week with Jamie Insall and Chris Kane making way for Chris Duggan and new loan-signing Luke Watt.

East Fife had an early sight of goal when Duggan, making his first start for East Fife, got the better of Ross Millen down the left and his cut back fell to Kevin Smith at the back post but former Fifer Wullie Muir was out quickly to block. On 20 minutes Scott Robinson had a chance to open the scoring however his shot from 10-yards was deflected behind for a corner. East Fife had been controlling the game but it was the home side who took the lead against the run of play on 28 minutes. Good play between Jamie McKernon and Paul Woods saw the latter play in Dario Zanatta who fired past Ryan Goodfellow into the bottom corner.

Queen’s Park doubled their advantage on 36 minutes when Zanatta picked up a loose ball in midfield and raced towards goal before laying off to Anton Brady to his left and Brady found the back of the net. Watt tried his luck from 25-yards on the stroke of half-time but his shot sailed narrowly over. East Fife had been the better side in the opening 45 minutes but the home side were clinical in front of goal.

Barry Smith changed formation for the second half with Robinson moving to the left and Smith playing through the middle and the visitor were unlucky not to pull one back on 47 minutes when Smith chipped the ball through to Duggan but his right-footed shot was saved by Muir. Duggan wasn’t to be denied however as he opened his East Fife account 2 minutes later. A quick free kick taken by Watt saw Smith collect a poor clearance and lay the ball off for Duggan who found the back of the net from 20-yards with an excellent strike that gave Muir no chance. At the other end Goodfellow produced a good save to deny Zanatta on 59 minutes however the majority of the play was taking place in the Queen’s Park half.

East Fife thought they had equalised on 68 minutes when Pat Slattery had the ball in the back of the net but the flag was rightly raised for offside. A goal was coming, however, and duly arrived on 73 minutes. Watt’s cross from the right was cushioned down by Duggan into the path of Robinson who found himself unmarked 6-yards out to slot past Muir for his 5th goal of the season. The visitors were the team in the ascendency and Queen’s Park had Muir to thank for keeping them in the game. First he pulled off an acrobatic save to tip Smith’s shot over the bar before he was able to smother a close range shot by Watt.

East Fife had been by far the better side but the home side almost stole all three points in the dying minutes when first David Gault’s toe poke flew narrowly over then Kalvin Oris should have at least hit the target from 12-yards but his weak strike trickled wide. East Fife’s unbeaten run stretches to 11 games with a 5th round Scottish Cup tie against St. Mirren up next.

After the match Barry Smith spoke to East Fife TV:

“The first-half, from our point-of-view, we’ve defended extremely well but it was too soft goals we conceded. We didn’t play particularly bad but the second half we changed things a bit and it worked for us. They [the players] put in a good performance and did what we asked them to do and for as much as Queen’s Park may have snuck it at the end there I thought we were the dominate team throughout the second half.”

Today's winning numbers drawn in The Station Inn, Kingskettle are 4, 5, 9, 27. No jackpot winners but 3 runners up each winning a tenner. The new jackpot is £1,800 to be drawn in The Station Bar, Leven on Wed. 8th February at 1pm. The runners up were RH O'Donnell, Aberdeenshire (standing order), I Berwick (Leven Thistle Golf Club) and S Hall, Bi-Fab (Mr Mechanic)

 

It is with regret that the Club announces that Gordon Young, Assistant  Manager, is leaving Bayview to pursue a career in the United States of America. The Club wishes him well in his new career and thanks him for his work since arriving after the departure of Gary Naysmith.

 

Ladbrokes League 1, Bayview Stadium, Saturday 28th January 2017

East Fife 0

Stranraer 0

Man of the Match: Scott Robinson

East Fife XI: Goodfellow, Slattery, Kane, Page, Kerr, Brown (Lamont 79’) Smith, Robinson, Insall (Duggan 50’), Penrice, Paterson

Subs Not Used: Trialist, Mutch, Austin

Booked: Paterson

Stranraer XI: Belford, Pettigrew, Barron, Neill, Dick, Robertson, Bell, Agnew, Thomson (Trialist 67’), Gibson, Malcolm (McGuigan 67’)

Subs Not Used: Currie, Wilson, Turner, Maley, Morena

Booked: Gibson, Barron, Bell

Referee: Scott Millar

Attendance: 584

East Fife welcomed League 1’s bottom side Stranraer to Bayview and played out a 0-0 draw in which neither side did enough to trouble the respective goalkeeper. Manager Barry Smith was able to name an unchanged side to the one which overcame Livingston in the William Hill Scottish Cup last weekend.

The game kicked off in horrendous conditions with a mixture of snow and rain falling over Bayview. East Fife had an early chance when Scott Robinson was played in by Nicki Paterson but Cameron Belford was out quickly to block his shot. Stranraer were enjoying the better of the play between the two sides and had a couple of chances inside the opening 25 minutes. First Ryan Thomson headed wide from Craig Pettigrew’s cross before Willie Gibson’s effort from 35-yards was well held by Goodfellow. The visitors should have taken the lead on 22 minutes when Ryan Thomson took advantage of a slip by Jason Kerr to cut the ball back to Scott Agnew who fired wide from 20-yards. East Fife had the last chance of the half when Paterson played the ball over the top to Kevin Smith but his shot from the left-hand side of the box was just over.

The second half saw the introduction of Chris Duggan who continued his return from injury and East Fife began to grow into the game however both sides continued to struggle to create any meaningful chances. Pettigrew and James Penrice tried their luck from distance without success. East Fife had a penalty claim waved away by referee Scott Millar when Duggan appeared to be impeded in the box by David Barron. Smith had a shot from the edge of the box saved by Belford before Steven Bell headed narrowly over from a corner at the other end. Liam Dick had a glorious chance to grab three points for the visitors 9 minutes from time but fired wide from less than 10-yards.

East Fife’s unbeaten run stretches to 10 games with 7 wins and 3 draws.

After the match Manager Barry Smith spoke to East Fife TV:

“This league is a very difficult league; any team can beat each other at any given time. I said to the boys it keeps the run going, it’s a good point. We always knew they were going to get a lift with a new manager coming in; they’ve a lot of experience in their team. When you reflect on it, for as much as you want three points at home, a point it probably a fair result”.

“Again we’ve got a clean sheet which shows how well we’re defending. The boys know we can play better but when you’re not playing well it’s important that you keep clean sheets and make sure that you get something from the game. We know we can play better but that’s not a reflection on the players they’re going to have games like that where it’s a tough, tough game and the weather affected the way we want to play. We’ll look back and say it was a good point.”