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Match Report - Elgin City

After a weeks’ break, East Fife were back on the road, this time a long hike up north to Borough Briggs to face Elgin City. The host sat in 3^rd place in the table prior to kick off and were in a very rich vein of form however, after a couple of signings earlier in the week and few more returning from injury, the Fifers were hoping to put in a good performance for the travelling support.

Four changes were made to the team that lost out to Dumbarton on Christmas Eve as new signing Aidan Quinn was brought straight into the starting line-up along with Taylor Steven, Alan Trouten and Aaron Steele. Liam Parker, Ryan Schiavone, Sam Denham and Scott Mercer were placed on the bench alongside and player/coach Scott Agnew. 

The first chance of the game fell to the Fifers in the 10^th minute when Ferguson picked out Shepherd unmarked inside the box, but he couldn’t guide his headed effort goal wards. Another chance came quickly with Steven forcing McHale into a diving save from long range. 

Following numerous chances, East Fife finally took the lead in the 19th minute. After a good bit of passing play Stewart Murdoch found himself with a bit of space 25-yards out and his sensational shot managed to find the top left corner, adding his name to the goal of the season contenders. 

Shortly after taking the lead, the Fifers showed no signs of slowing down as a deflected shot from Steven landed for Jack Healy in acres of space inside the box who, after a couple of keepy-uppies, took a shot on the volley that bounces back off the post.

Elgin had their first chance of the game on 25 minutes when a long ball over the top found Hester one-on-one with Fleming, but his attempted lob was just wide of the post. 

On the half hour mark, Trouten was bundled over inside the area and the referee pointed straight to the spot with no hesitation. Trouten calmly and composedly slotted the penalty home, netting his 200th career goal and giving East Fife a 2-0 cushion. 

Towards the end of the half Shepherd had a flurry of chances to seal the three points. The first being a free kick from around 25 yards out which forced McHale to tip the ball over the bar. The second came from a defensive mistake which put Shepherd through on goal, however a heavy touch when he rounded the keeper tightened the angle and McHale was able to recover and make the save.

HALF TIME: Elgin City 0-2 East Fife

Elgin came out of the blocks the quickest in search for a goal after the break, however early second half chances were comfortably saved by Fleming. 5 minutes into the half, Steven was unlucky to see his strike cannon off the keeper’s near post from the edge of the area. 

20 minutes went by with a few Elgin half chances but nothing overly threatening but then after a short period of Elgin domination, East Fife had another chance to clinch the three points with a third goal when Newton won the ball in midfield and picked out Steven with an enormity of space in front of him who raced in on goal only to see the ball bobble narrowly past the post. 

With nine minutes left of the game Elgin City manage to pull a goal back when a deflected pass from Antoniazzi found Hester who halved the deficit with a strike in the near post. 

After a surviving an array of late chances, Healy cleared the ball up the park giving East Fife a much needed, and much deserved, three points.

FULL TIME: Elgin City 1-2 East Fife

A massive win for the Fifers sees the team find themselves in fourth position in the league table with only 3 points behind Elgin. Next up for the Methil men is a game at Bayview against Gary Naysmith’s Stenhousemuir who sit in 6th position, just a couple of points behind.

Elgin City Team: McHale, Cooper, Draper, Anderson (Mailer 68’), McHardy, Findlay (Lawrence 68’), Cameron, Dingwall, Taylor (Antioniazzi 79’), Reid, Hester

East Fife: Fleming, Murdoch, Quinn, Steele, Newton, Steven, Millar, Ferguson (Slattery 90+1’), Healy, Shepherd (Walls 84’), Trouten

Referee: Barry Cook

Attendance: 625 

 Report by Andrew Laing

Match Preview - Elgin City

The Fifers return to action this week making the long venture north to face Elgin City in a pivotal clash in East Fife’s season. A win in the play-off six-pointer could see the Black and Gold re-enter the promotion places after a poor run of games, potentially leapfrogging both Annan Athletic and Stranraer should other results finish favourably.

The Fifers are yet to record a win since the last time they faced Elgin, in what proved to be an action-packed encounter, all the way back in October. City find themselves with breathing room in third place, five points clear of the chasing pack, however they are trailing significantly in the title race, being 8 points behind second place Stirling Albion.

Fife will be hoping to improve on their Christmas Eve performance, where they fell victim to league leaders Dumbarton at “the Rock”, taking their winless run to 6 games.

On the other hand, Elgin nabbed a last-minute winner on Monday against relegation threatened Forfar, in what may prove to be an imperative three points for the Black and Whites.

Squad News

The whole team played in a bounce game over the new year where a number of impressive performances have well and truly given McDonald something to think about in terms of team selection.

New signings Scott Agnew and Aidan Quinn are both fit and available for selection along with Rabin Omar and Brogan Walls who both survived the game unscathed. Unfortunately, Gallacher and McManus both remain out.

Team Colours

The Fifers will be in their away colours, of illuminous pink with black shorts. The goalkeeper will wear the second all-yellow strip. The hosts will don their typical black and white striped kit, with their goalkeeper clad in all black.

Previous Encounter

The game kicked off with a red card, when Lewis Nicolson was sent down the tunnel after a late and harsh challenge, after just 7 minutes. City then perhaps should have gone down to nine 3 minutes later, when Russell Dingwall slid in from behind, clearing out Balde, but he only saw yellow.

Fife broke the deadlock on the 22nd minute mark after a textbook corner routine saw captain Scott Mercer nod home Alex Ferguson’s cross.

There were half chances for both sides going forward, notably Allan Fleming clearing out League Two’s top scorer Kane Hester, but rather than pointing to the spot, the referee instead gave a corner.

It was a tricky game for the officials to govern, particularly in the first half, due to Elgin’s ill-discipline, as they saw 4 cards in the first 45, and a further 3 in the second.

The half teetered out, with few chances of note after the penalty claim, and Fife went into the dressing rooms with a goal, and a man advantage.

The Black and Whites ran rampant in the second half, with their one-dimensional attack. Their over the top through ball landed right in the path of Hester who slotted home, equalising for City, in the 52nd minute, taking his goal tally to 12 in 12 in the league.

After the equaliser the Fifers started to find their way into the game again somewhat, and after Shepherd was pulled down inside the box, their chance came, as the referee pointed to the spot. Alan Trouten was the man stood over it, and despite Daniel Hoban guessing the correct way, the Trout’s spot kick found the back of the net and restored East Fife’s advantage with 20 minutes still on the clock. This closed out the game, giving East Fife their first win at Bayview since August.

Match Tickets

On the day there will be options to pay to be in the stand, or admission into the standing area. Tickets are available on the Elgin City website.

Prices as follows:

Ground Admission:

Adult-£13

Concession- £8

Stand Admission:

Adult- £15

Concession- £10

All under 16s go free today with a paying adult.

Live Stream

Unfortunately, there will be no available livestream for viewers within the UK and Ireland. For our international fans, the match will be available on East Fife TV with a monthly or season pass.

Officials

The on-pitch official for the clash will be Barry Cook, and his assistants running the lines will be Paul O’Neill and Gordon Seago.

Williamson Heads on Loan

Lucas Williamson has joined East of Scotland Premier Division side Sauchie Juniors on loan until the end of the season.

Manager Greig McDonald: “Lucas has a year to run on his contract and we felt playing games regularly would be more beneficial for him right now with a view to next season. Sauchie are doing well in the East of Scotland Premier division, and I know that they’ll look after him well”.

Sauchie are scheduled to face Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale in the league this weekend.

Good luck Lucas!