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Highlights of Saturday's game against Brechin City are now available to view on EFtv

Ladbrokes League 1, Bayview Stadium, Saturday 18th February 2017

East Fife 3 (Smith 28’, Kane 31’, Duggan 69’(P))

Brechin City 2 (Jackson 34’, Dyer 54’)

Man of the Match: Chris Duggan.

East Fife XI: Goodfellow, Slattery, Kane, Page, Kerr, Lamont (Insall 55’), Brown (Reilly 90’), Duggan, Smith, Penrice, Paterson.

Subs Not Used: Hurst, Austin.

Booked: Duggan, Page.

Dismissed: Paterson

Brechin City XI: Smith, McLean, Dyer, Rodger, Hill, C.O’Neil (Ford 84’), Trouten, Dale, Jackson, Watt (Caldwell 72’), Graham.

Subs Not Used: Fusco, Lynas, McCormack, Dods, P.O’Neil

Booked: Hill, Watt, Jackson.

Dismissed: Trouten.

Referee: David Munro

Attendance: 542

East Fife took on Brechin City and claimed all three points after a hard-fought and bruising encounter at Bayview. Manager Barry Smith made two changed to the team that narrowly lost in the Scottish Cup last weekend with Chris Kane and Mark Lamont replacing the injured duo of Luke Watt and Scott Robinson. New signing Ben Reilly took his place on the bench alongside Jordan Austin, Jamie Insall and Mark Hurst.

The first 20 minutes passed without too much incident; Liam Watt fired wide from 5-yards for the visitors and Kane’s shot from distance flew over the bar for the home side. The first real action in front of goal occurred on 24 minutes when Chris Duggan turned his marker and fired in a shot from the right that Brechin ‘keeper Graeme Smith held at the second attempt. Nicki Paterson’s free kick from 25-yards kissed the bar on its way over on 26 minutes before Kevin Smith opened the scoring for the home side on 28 minutes with another free kick, this time a couple of yards closer to goal, that left Graeme Smith rooted to the spot.

East Fife were two up 3 minutes later when the Brechin defence failed to clear Paterson’s free kick and Kane fired home at the back post. The visitors managed to pull one back before the break when Andy Jackson found space in the box to fire past Ryan Goodfellow with the aid of a deflection.

The visitors were level 9 minutes into the second half when a defensive misunderstanding allowed Willie Dyer find the back of the net from 10-yards. Instead of being rattled by losing their two goal advantage, East Fife began to push forward and ‘keeper Smith did well to turn Kevin Smith’s 30-yard strike behind for a corner as the clock ticked past the hour mark. Kane turned a Paterson corner narrowly wide before the home side were awarded a penalty when second-half substitute Insall was taken out in the box by Gareth Rodger. Duggan stepped up to score his 4th goal in three matches.

Duggan almost added a 4th on 69 minutes when he got on the end of Ross Brown’s cut back but his shot was deflected wide. Graeme Smith was forced to turn Paterson’s free kick behind for a corner before Alan Trouten was dismissed for the visitors after a mistimed tackle on Duggan who was breaking forward. Paterson had another attempt with a free kick form the corner of the box, this time it flew narrowly past the post. Paterson then picked up the second red card of the afternoon for a late challenge on Rodger in injury time.

9 league games unbeaten; 6 wins, 3 draw and into the play-off positions.

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

“We were made to work hard for it; Brechin put us under a lot of pressure. From our point-of-view, game management at 2-0 could have made the game a lot easier but credit to Brechin for their fight-back. I think it showed the spirit in the team again after them pegging us back to 2 each to win the game 3-2 showed the spirit in the team.”

“We said at half-time that they had to stand up and be counted because it was a physical game and they more than did that and in amongst that we scored some good goals as well. We’d worked on thing through the week, as we always do, and we knew where we would get some joy and fortunately it worked for us again today and long may that continue.”

William Hill Scottish Cup 5th Round, Bayview Stadium, Saturday 11th February 2017

East Fife 2 (Duggan 54’(P) 90+3’(P))

St. Mirren 3 (Smith 34’, Morgan 69’ 84’)

Man of the Match: Chris Duggan

East Fife XI: Goodfellow, Watt (Kane 12’), Slattery, Page, Kerr, Brown (Insall 75’), Duggan, Smith (Lamont 66’), Robinson, Penrice, Paterson

Subs Not Used: Flockhart, Austin

Booked: Paterson

St. Mirren XI: O’Brien, Megannis, Davis, MacKenzie, Eckersley, Demetriou, Storie (Morgan 66’), McGinn, Mallan, Smith (Fjelde 90+1’), Loy (Sutton 57’)

Subs Not Used: Langfield, Baird, Irvine, Clarkson

Booked: Storie, Davis

Referee: Don Robertson

Attendance: 1483

East Fife welcomed St. Mirren to Bayview in the 5th round of the William Hill Scottish Cup and lost by the odd goal in 5 after an entertaining cup tie played out in challenging conditions. East Fife named an unchanged team to the side that drew 2-2 with Queen’s Park last weekend. Prior to kick off Ryan Goodfellow and Jonathan Page were presented with trophies to mark their club record 603 minutes without conceding and 100th appearance respectively.

East Fife were forced into a change on 12 minutes when last-week’s Man of the Match Luke Watt limped off to be replace by Chris Kane. The first chance of the match fell to the home side when Kane narrowly headed over at the near post from Nicki Paterson’s cross. East Fife had the ball in the back of the net on 29 minutes however the whistle had blown for a foul on St. Mirren ‘keeper Billy O’Brien by Scott Robinson. St. Mirren took the lead with their first shot at goal on 34 minutes when East Fife were unable to clear their box before the ball fell to Cameron Smith who fired past Goodfellow. The visitors had the chance to go into the break two ahead but Gary MacKenzie headed narrowly wide at the back post.

After the interval Chris Duggan fired in a shot from 25-yards but it flew narrowly past O’Brien’s left-hand post. At the other end a combination of Goodfellow and Jason Kerr were able to deny Kyle Megannis on 50 minutes. East Fife thought they had equalised on 51 minutes when Robinson’s chip looked to be heading into the bottom corner however excellent defending by Harry Davis saw him clear off the line before Ross Brown’s follow-up was saved by O’Brien. East Fife weren’t to be denied for long and got a deserved equaliser on 54 minutes when Duggan scored from the spot after Brown was bundled over in the box by Davis.

John Sutton replaced Rory Loy for the visitors on 57 minutes and almost had an immediate impact but he headed just wide at the near post moments after coming on. The visitors were back in front on 69 minutes after a breakaway move saw substitute Lewis Morgan finish from a tight angle. Duggan headed just over from a Mark Lamont cross on 75 minutes before Stephen Mallan tried his luck from distance but his shot sailed way over. St. Mirren added a third goal 6 minutes from time when Morgan curled an excellent strike into the bottom corner from 25-yards. The visitors almost added a 4th with a couple of minutes left when Mallan’s corner almost creeped directly in but for a good save by Goodfellow.

East Fife saw out the match with 10 men when Robinson went off injured with a minute of normal time remaining with East Fife having used all three of their subs. The home side were awarded a second penalty which Duggan again converted with the last kick of the game after the Jamie Insall was impeded in the box by Davis. The goal put a fairer reflection on the game but East Fife’s winning run and Scottish Cup campaign came to an end in a game that the home side were unlucky to lose.

After the match Barry Smith spoke to East Fife TV:

“I think we put enough into the game that we certainly could have taken it to a replay. The second half there was large spells of the game where we were on top, a couple of opportunities that were cleared off the line. They boys gave me everything and that’s all we can ask when you’re playing a team from a higher division but they certainly acquitted themselves. We just asked for them to take a wee bit more responsibility than what they did in the first half and they certainly did that in the second half. We’re disappointed but looking at the positives how they played and how they competed against a team from a higher division we will certainly take that.”

“We came back from 2-0 down last week and we’ve come back from 1-0 but if you’re being critical we don’t really want to be chasing the game. We want to start and get our noses in front first but I think that would be over critical they way the players responded and what they actually gave us throughout the game. The second half we played some good stuff and created some good opportunities.”

This is to remind all supporters that the admission prices (pay at the gate) for the Scottish Cup Tie against St. Mirren are as follows;

Adult is £15:   Concessions (Disabled; 60 and over ) is £10: Mature students (proof required at reception for ticket) is £10: Children (under 16 only) is £5. Disabled fans should report to reception for concession tickets, especially if with carers. No charge for carers but fan pays £10.

Please note that there will be no family tickets on Saturday.

Also, we advise all season ticket holders that while their season tickets are not valid for this match, please come early in order to gain your reserved seats. The Club and the Stewards will do their best to ensure that season ticket holders will retain their seats.