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Superb cup victory at Livingston

William Hill Scottish Cup 4^th Round, Tony Macaroni Stadium, Saturday 21^st January 2017

Livingston 0

East Fife 1 (Paterson 27’)

Man of the Match: Nicki Paterson

Livingston XI: Kelly, Lithgow, Crighton, Byrne, Pittman, Buchanan, Mullen, Cadden (Carrick 83’), De Vita (Mullin 65’), Halkett, Gallagher

Subs Not Used: Maley, Longridge, Sinclair, Sampson, Ogilvie

Booked: Halkett

East Fife XI: Goodfellow, Slattery, Kane, Page, Kerr, Brown (Lamont 76’), Smith, Robinson, Insall (Duggan 82’), Penrice, Paterson

Subs Not Used: Cordery, Austin, Mutch

Booked: Brown, Kane, Slattery, Robinson

Referee: Colin Steven

Attendance: 726

East Fife are through to the 5^th round of the William Hill Scottish Cup following a 1-0 win over fellow League 1 side Livingston. Manager Barry Smith made two changes to the side that drew with Airdrieonians the previous week with Mark Hurst and Mark Lamont making way for Ryan Goodfellow and Kevin Smith.

Livingston should have taken the lead on 8 minutes when Nicky Cadden fired a great cross into the box but Rafa De vita could only lift the ball over the bar from a couple of yards. The home side had another couple of chances in the first 20 minutes first when Liam Buchanan forced Goodfellow to turn his header behind for a corner before Alan Lithgow headed over at the back post from Cadden’s cross. East Fife’s first real effort in front of goal came on 18 minutes when Livi keeper Liam Kelly managed to tip Jamie Insall’s header over the bar. East Fife were growing into the game had had another good opportunity to go ahead on 26 minutes when Insall’s overhead kick went narrowly wide after Jonathan Page had headed on Paterson’s corner.

East Fife took the lead on 27 minutes in spectacular fashion when Paterson found the back of the net with a volley from 25-yards. Goodfellow was forced to tip a free kick from Cadden over the bar on 34 minutes before Paterson had the chance to double East Fife’s lead 10 minutes before half-time but this time his strike was narrowly wide.

After the break there were chances aplenty for both sides. A header by Jason Kerr was easily saved by formed Fifer Kelly and Insall headed wide for the visitors. Goodfellow was called into action on 62 minutes when he pulled off an excellent save from Rada de Vita’s deflected strike and gain on 75 minutes to deny Scott Pittman. Pittman was involved again 5 minutes later but he pulled his shot wide after good work by substitute Josh Mullin.

Substitute Lamont should have put the tie to bed 10 minutes from time when he was played in by Smith but Kelly was out quickly to block. Livingston pressed for an equaliser and were piling forward at every opportunity. Liam Buchanan saw his close range shot saved by Goodfellow before Dale Carrick’s follow-up rebounded off the bar. The home side has one last chance to force a replay into injury time but Danny Mullen’s header was cleared off the line by Jonathan Page.

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

“I’m delighted for the boys, the effort they put into that game and a bit of quality wins it. They had to defend extremely well in the latter part of the game but Livingston were always going to throw everything at it, they were taking chances, they were gambling so they were going to get chances and we understand that. The boys defended brilliantly, threw themselves in front of things and as I say the one bit of quality in the game won it.”

“We knew what we were getting when Nicki [Paterson] came, I’m not sure if we’ll get strikes like that every week but that’s what he’s capable of and that’s why we brought him to the club. Goody [Ryan Goodfellow] has been out for a few weeks and to come in and plays as well as he did is credit to him. The whole team put in a tremendous performance to get into the next round and that was the important thing.”