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Same old story for battling Fifers

Ladbrokes League 1, Bayview Stadium, Saturday 19^th November 2016

East Fife 1 (Insall 45’)

Queen’s Park 2 (Cummins 22’, Millen pen 54’)

Man of the Match: Jamie Insall (Chosen by John Tindal, match sponsor)

East Fife XI: Hurst, Slattery (Naysmith 63’), Kane (O’Hara 67’), Page, Kerr, Lamont, Brown, Insall, Smith, Wilkie, Wallace (Mercer 63’)

Subs Not Used: Goodfellow

Booked: Kane, Wilkie

Queen’s Park XI: Muir, Millen, Gibson, McKernon, McGeever, Cummins, Woods (Galt 67’), Fotheringham, Zanatta (Carter 85’), Brady (McVey 81’), Burns

Subs Not Used: Malone, Warton, Brown, MacPherson

Booked: Galt, Gibson

Referee: Mat Northcroft

Attendance: 557

East Fife welcomed fellow promoted side Queen’s Park to Bayview but it was the visitors who left with the points courtesy of a 2-1 win. Gary Naysmith made one change to the side that drew with Alloa Athletic on Tuesday with Ryan Goodfellow dropping to the bench to make way from Mark Hurst who returned to the side following suspension.

The home side started the brightest and had a couple chances to take an early lead. First former Fifer Muir was on hand to cut out a dangerous Lamont cross with Insall waiting to pounce before Wallace was just beaten to Smith’s cross by Burns who managed to head clear from almost on the goal line. Instead it was Queen’s Park who opened the scoring against the run of play with Cummins lost his marker to bundle home McKernon’s corner on 22 minutes. Woods had the chance to double their lead 4 minutes later but saw his shot from the right deflected for a corner.

Muir pulled off the save of the match on 28 minutes when he got down well to keep out volley from Wallace after seeing the ball late. Queen’s Park should have been 2-0 up five minutes before half-time when Zanatta broke free from the East Fife defence but with only Hurst to beat he delayed his shot too long which allowed Kerr time to recover and put in a superb tackle on the penalty spot. East Fife grabbed a deserved equaliser on the stroke of half-time when Lamont raced on to a loose ball on the left side of the box and is shot-come-cross was tapped in by Insall.

Queen’s Park were awarded a penalty 10 minutes after the break when Wilkie pulled on the shirt of Burns inside the area and gave referee Northcroft little option but to point to the spot. Millen stepped up to take the kick and waited for Hurst to dive before casually chipping the ball into the net. Clear-cut chances were few and far between in the second half but Muir was again on hand to deny East Fife on 74 minutes, this time keeping out a strong Smith drive. Another game, another missed opportunity for East Fife.

After the match Manager Gary Naysmith spoke to EFtv:

“I’m a bit fed up to be honest, coming in here saying the same things, losing games that we shouldn’t be losing. I’ve let the players know a few home truths there, there’s nothing in the game but what’s won the game is that Queen’s Park have defended better than us, we can’t keep giving away the goals that we’re giving away and it’s just going round the team. Today Jason has lost his man at a corner; Kyle’s made a horrendous tackle, then panicked and pulled the guy back and however soft it is, it is a penalty. I can’t keep happening; we’re going to find ourselves in a relegation battle. For 15 minutes in the first half, they’ve not been in our half, we lose a man from a corner and we’re one-nil down, knocks the wind out our sails everybody’s got to pick themselves up again, we get out of jail again when we get a goal before half-time then it’s one all. Then the second half, again we’ve started really well and again I think it’s the first time they’ve been in our half; we don’t go into a tackle properly then it leads to a penalty. It’s two-one again and we can’t keep doing it because our confidence is low as it is and what we’re doing it beating ourselves. I’ve sort of molly-coddled them and said we were playing well but somewhere along the line it needs to stop. If it doesn’t stop it will either other players coming in or it will be me going out the door.”

Late heartache for The Fife

Ladbrokes League 1, Bayview Stadium, Tuesday 15^th November 2016

East Fife 2 (Smith 31’ Taggart og 74’)

Alloa Athletic 2 (Longworth 58’, Hynd 89’)

Man of the Match: Chris Kane

East Fife XI: Goodfellow, Slattery, Kane, Page, Kerr, Lamont (Naysmith 73’), Brown, Insall (Austin 87’), Smith, Wilkie, Wallace (Mercer 70’)

Subs Not Used: O’Hara

Booked: Wilkie

Alloa Athletic XI: Parry, Taggart, Waters, Graham, Marr, Holmes (Hynd 84’), Cawley, Robertson, Spence, Longworth (Kirkpatrick 73’), Flannigan

Subs Not Used: A Wilson, Hoggan, L Wilson, Scullion, Goodwin

Booked: None

Referee: Alan Newlands

Attendance: 412

East Fife welcome 3^rd placed Alloa Athletic to Bayview on Tuesday night in a fixture rearranged due to the visitor’s progress in the Irn-Bru Cup. East Fife made four changes to the team that lost to Livingston 10 days ago with Ryan Goodfellow, Jonathan Page, Mark Lamont and Jamie Insall replacing Scott Mercer, Gary Naysmith, Kevin O’Hara and the suspended Mark Hurst.

The first real chance of the match arrived on 17 minutes when Wallace did well to lose his man on the left-hand side but a combination of on Parry and Graham were able to scramble his cut back clear with Insall waiting to pounce. Insall then had a glorious chance to give the home side the lead when he was sent through by Smith but was denied by the legs of Parry.

East Fife were piling on the pressure and took a deserved lead on 31 minutes. Lamont played in Smith down the left who out-muscled Marr on the touch line before racing in on goal to fire past Parry. East Fife had a penalty claimed waved away by referee Alan Newlands 3 minutes before the break when Smith looked to have been brought down in the box, replays however proved that there was no contact and the striker had instead lost his footing. Alloa’s best chance of the half arrived just before the whistle when Marr connected with a Flannigan free kick but Goodfellow was well placed to make the save.

The home fans thought East Fife had extended their lead shortly after the break when Kane rose to head home Lamont’s out-swinging corner however their joy was short lived as the linesman’s flag was raised to signal the ball had gone out of play. Alloa were growing into the game and levelled the match on 58 minutes when the East Fife defence failed to deal with a bouncing ball in the box and Longworth took advantage to score from 5-yards. A deflected Wilkie shot forced a fine save out of Parry before Cawley was unlucky not to put Alloa ahead on 72 minutes when he saw his shot bounce back off the post. Instead 2 minutes later it was East Fife who scored next. Insall took advantage of a deflection to race down the right and his cross from the by-line was turned into his own net by Taggart. East Fife were really holding on towards the end but the visitor’s grabbed on equaliser in the final minute when Hynd was on hand to head home Flannigan’s corner.

After the Match Gary Naysmith spoke to East Fife TV:

“I think the performance deserved the victory and to lose the goal that we lost so late in the game it’s like a double whammy. I’m disappointed, I’m not going to hide that, but it’s a game that we should have seen out, going ahead twice. But we have to look at the positives; we played against an Alloa team that a lot of people tipped to win the league. The last couple of game I don’t feel we really imposed ourselves but I don’t think anyone could say that tonight. I think, I know we were the batter team and Jim Goodwin agreed with us that we were the better team and that we should have won. Although it’s nice to hear it makes it doubly disappointing when we’ve not won. The lad played well and as I said last week in the first half against Livingston they’ve gave me the lot and we’ve came out today and the lad have giving me everything again and once we cut out the silly mistakes and get that win I’m sure our season will take off.”

Page Returns for Visit of the Wasps

East Fife welcome promotion challengers Alloa Athletic to Bayview Stadium this evening, hoping to get their league campaign back on track after two defeats on the bounce.

Player manager Gary Naysmith reported that Scott Robinson and Chris Duggan continue to be sidelined through injury and that striker Jordan Austin retains his selection in the squad. Returning from suspension will be influencial defender Jonathan Page, while Ryan Goodfellow will takes his place between the sticks after Mark Hurst's red card at Livingstion ten days ago.

The Wasps have come out on top in both previous meetings this season but it will be their first visit to Methil since April 2013 when goals from Bobby Barr and Paul Willis helped secure a 2-1 home victory.

Supporters of both sides are welcome to enjoy pre and post-match refreshments in the Stadium bar.