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Darren’s Boys Aiming to Bounce Back
Queen’s Park are the visitors to Bayview Stadium tomorrow afternoon as East Fife look to get their campaign back on track after going down heavily to local rivals Raith Rovers two weeks ago.
Manager Darren Young will be hoping for a positive reaction, but can expect a tough game from a side looking for their first win of the league season. Gus MacPherson’s men have posed more problems than most opponents for the Fifers in recent years, particularly here in Methil, and you have to go back to January 2009 to find the last time East Fife secured three points at home to the Spiders. A Stevie Crawford double and goals from Greig McDonald and Chris Templeman helped earn a 4-2 victory on that occasion.
It remains to be seen if the Bayview boss will make changes to his starting line-up but there are certainly options available as the injury situation continues to improve with Chris Kane the latest to return to the squad. Numbers were also boosted last week with the return of goalkeeper Mark Hurst on loan from St Johnstone.
The men from the south side of Glasgow made several new signings during the summer, including Michael Bailey from Yoker Athletic and ex-Greenock Morton youngster Thomas Orr, who both featured in the 2-2 draw with Stranraer at Hampden a fortnight ago, with Queen’s Park fighting back from a two goal deficit to salvage a point.
Supporters of both clubs are reminded that they are welcome to enjoy refreshments in the stadium bars before and after the game.
Player News
Goalkeeper Thomas Cordery is with Cumbernauld Colts on a short term loan, we hope you do well Thomas.
Ben Gordon has left the Club at his own request as per an agreement between the club and player. We would like to thank Ben and wish him every success for his future.
Fifers Face Diamonds Test
East Fife head west to Lanarkshire tomorrow, where they face Airdrieonians at the Excelsior Stadium. The Diamonds are a point better off than the men from Methil, having hit a fine patch of form recently, despite the loss of striker Andy Ryan to Dunfermline Athletic, winning two games on the bounce before losing out to Stranraer at Stair Park last Saturday.
The Airdrie squad has been bolstered by several new signings, notably striker Willis Furtado, who caught the eye with Stenhousemuir last season, and former Fifer Luke Watt on loan from Motherwell.
Darren Young’s men can consider themselves unfortunate not to have taken any points from last week’s encounter against Queen’s Park at Bayview, but the gaffer will know that his side need to be more clinical in front of goal after passing up a number of opportunities before going down 1-0 against well-organised opponents. One of the positives from the game was the appearance from the bench of defender Jonathan Page after several months sidelined by injury. With Chris Kane also making a return to the squad there are now options available in every department, a far cry from the situation earlier in the campaign.
It would be fair to say that Airdrieonians have had the better of recent meetings with the Fifers, ending last season undefeated after two wins and two draws. The last time East Fife returned with all three points was December 2013 when goals from Lewis Barr, Ross Brown and Stephen Hughes earned a 3-1 win.
