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Match Report - Bonnyrigg Rose

East Fife returned to New Dundas Park to take on bottom of the league Bonnyrigg Rose for the fourth and final time this season. East Fife have had a mixed bag of results against the Rosey Posey this season, win one win (4-1 at Bonnyrigg in October), one loss (3-0 at Bayview in August) and one draw (0-0 at Bayview in December). Last weekend the Fifers grabbed a massive three points late on against playoff rivals Stenhousemuir as Scott Shepherd snatched an 81st minute winner to clinch a 2-1 win for the Methil men.

Two changes were made to the team that beat the Warriors at Ochilview as Connor McManus made his return to the starting after a very long injury spell along with Stewart Murdoch, with Jacky Healy dropping to the bench and Jonathan Page missing out through illness.

The first chance of the first half came to Bonnyrigg in the 26th minute when Doan’s throw finds Faye inside the penalty area who, on the spin, forces Fleming into a good save. From the resulting corner, Currie found the head of Connolly, but his effort was over the bar.

In the 37th minute, Faye attempted to go for a spectacular long-range effort when he took advantage of a poor clearance, but his effort is narrowly over the bar.

With five minutes remaining of the first half, Bonnyrigg had a chance to go 1-0 up at the break when a corner was whipped into the front post and flicked on to Gray who’s volley was kept out by a wonderful diving from Fleming.

HALF TIME: East Fife 0-0 Bonnyrigg Rose 

Early on in the second half, East Fife had their first good chance of the game when good play between McManus and Schiavone saw the ball played out to Walls who’s cross found the head of Shepherd, but he couldn’t direct his header towards goal.

In the 57th minute East Fife took the lead when a long throw from Steele was only partially cleared into the pathway of Trouten who’s curled volley is blocked only for Ferguson to pick up the loose ball and feed it back to Trouten who takes a few touches past the stagnant Rose defenders and rifles it into the top corner from close range. 

Only three minutes after the Fifers taking the lead Bonnyrigg nearly scored a quick-fire equaliser. Doan, on the right by-line, picks out McGachie who forces Fleming to turn his effort behind for a corner.

Bonnyrigg scored a deserved equalised in the 75^th minute after a good chunk of pressure when Currie’s corner was turned in by Connelly from close range. 

FULL TIME: East Fife 1-1 Bonnyrigg Rose

With the Fifers picking up a point they drew level with 3^rd placed Annan Athletic with Stenhousemuir just two points behind and Forfar Athletic a point further back. Next up is a Friday night fixture against Elgin City under the lights at Bayview.

Bonnyrigg Rose Team: Martin, Young, Horne, Grigor, Brett, Currie, Gray (Arnott 86’), Doan (Murray 67’), Connolly, Faye (McGachie 55’), Mitchell (Rodden 67’)

East Fife Team: Fleming, Murdoch, Steele, Newton, Denham, McManus, Trouten, Walls, Ferguson, Schiavone (Young 88’), Shepherd (Denholm 80’)

Referee: Daniel Graves

Attendance: 948

Report by Andrew Laing

Ticket Info v Elgin City

Tickets for our cinch League Two match against Elgin City on Friday 24th March at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium are now on sale and can be purchased here. 

Admission Prices

Adults - £18

Concessions* - £14

Under 16s** - £5

Parent & Child** - £21

Parent & 2 Children** - £24

*Over 65s/Full-Time Students/Disabled – proof of age/eligibility may be requested

**Proof of age may be requested.

All member of East Fife Community Football Club & East Fife Girls & Womens’ Football Club who are under 16 go free with a paying adult or as part of an organised group for all cinch League Two matches at Bayview this season. Tickets for this are arranged through EFCFC.

Full and half-season tickets are valid for this match.

There are no cash turnstiles at Bayview and supporters are strongly encouraged to purchase their tickets online. Online sales are available right up until kick off. Tickets can also be purchased over the phone by calling 01333 426323 or directly from the club office.

Please note, parent and child tickets cannot be purchased online and should be bought directly from the club office. 

For those who can’t make it to the game on Friday night, a live stream is available worldwide via East Fife TV.

Match Preview - Bonnyrigg Rose

Oli Anderson previews tomorrow’s match against Bonnyrigg Rose.

The Fifers are back on the road this week as they travel to New Dundas Park to face bottom of the League Bonnyrigg Rose and the Black and Gold will be hoping to replicate the result from their last visit in September. Greig McDonald’s men recorded yet another comeback victory last weekend with second-half goals from Alex Ferguson and Scott Shepherd, handing East Fife their first win against Stenhousemuir this season. Bonnyrigg are coming into this weekend’s tie after a devastating 91st minute goal denied them of any points against Stirling last week. Calum Connolly put the Rosey Posey ahead, but the title chasers clawed their way back into the game.

Form

Bonnyrigg have recorded 7 points from their last 6 games, despite being in last place in the league. They have also recorded two wins in that time, both on the road, at Stranraer and Elgin. The Rosey Posey also recovered a point in their game against Forfar a few weeks back thanks to an 87th minute equaliser from Kieran McGachie.

East Fife are currently enjoying their finest form of the season so far, having hit a real purple patch. The Methil outfit have recorded 13 points in their last 6 games. They are currently averaging 2.2 points per game. This is an incredible increase on the form for the rest of the season where they have averaged just 1.1 point per match. The disappointing game against Stranraer 3 weeks ago is the only blemish on what has been a stellar run since the beginning of last month.

The cinch League Two Table:

Last Week

The Hosts

Bonnyrigg fell to Stirling Albion last week, as the Binos had a strong second half to take all three points at Forthbank. The scoring was opened by Calum Connolly giving Bonnyrigg an unexpected lead into half time. Their performance was all for naught unfortunately, as a wonder strike from youngster Flynn Duffy and an injury time winner from Jack Leitch completed Stirling’s turn around, moving them into just two points behind Dumbarton, with a game in hand.

The Fife

East Fife continued their stellar form, in a comeback victory over Gary Naysmith’s Stenhousemuir side. Goals from Alex Ferguson and Scott Shepherd completed the second half turnaround. The Fifers have now recorded 13 points in their last 6 matches.

Greig McDonald’s men were slow out the blocks and it was the Warriors who imposed themselves on the game in the early stages.

Nat Wedderburn and Michael Miller controlled the midfield battle and never let any of the Fife midfielders have time on the ball. Stenny looked at their most dangerous from set pieces and came close after 15 minutes when Sean Crighton’s driven shot blew over following a short corner.

The deadlock was broken after 32 minutes, with the hosts putting themselves in front. Miscommunication between Allan Fleming and Jonathan Page led to Stenhousemuir getting a needless corner kick. The Warriors capitalised on the opportunity, with Ross Forbes linking up with Matty Yates, who coolly slotted the ball through Allan Fleming’s legs. 1-0 Stenhousemuir.

The half finished in scrappy action, with Stenhousemuir still on the ascendency, though the Warriors couldn’t capitalise and only went in at the break with the one goal advantage.

Half Time: Stenhousemuir 1-0 East Fife.

The Fifers came out for the second period with fire in their bellies and a spring in their step.

They were rampant, and pushing for the goal, with Schiavone and Healy on the wings starting to cause bother.

They created two half chances but nothing of note, until the 52nd minute, when Jack Healy beat Jacob Blaney on the wing, before cutting inside and firing a low cross into the box, which Alex Ferguson was able to convert. 1-1.

The Fife never stopped and spent the rest of the half trying to put Stenhousemuir to the sword. They even had the ball in the net after 70 minutes after a stramash in the air following a corner, but the referee pulled play back for a foul on Warriors’ keeper Jay Cantley.

The winner came a further 10 minutes later, when Ryan Schiavone turned Callum Yeats on the wing, and lofted a cross in which met the head of Brogan Walls, who nodded the ball back across the face of goal. Of all people, it was Scott Shepherd who converted to hand East Fife all three points.

Squad News

There are no fresh injury worries ahead of tomorrow's game. Unfortunately it looks like the will come too soon for Aidan Quinn to make a return to the squad but Kieran Millar may be available after recovering from the back injury that's kept him out of the last 2 matches.

Previous Encounter

East Fife played out their first goalless draw of the season when they hosted Bonnyrigg Rose on match day 17 of the cinch SPFL League Two calendar. The game had broken the trend of high scoring clashes between the two sides, where we saw 8 goals in their last two meetings.

The Rosey Posey started the game on the offensive, and the first five minutes were largely played in and around the Fife 18-yard box. When the Fifers got the ball, they moved fast and with purpose, firing the ball to Scott Shepherd, who drew a foul intelligently.

The best chance of the first 45 came courtesy of Shepherd, who, as he does every week, worked his socks off, chasing down a long ball. He latched onto it and looked to have it over stranded Bonnyrigg ‘keeper Michael Andrews, but the stopper got a fingertip to it, and saw it out for a corner. The set-play that followed was very reminiscent of the Dutch free-kick in the World Cup quarterfinals, lovely one touch passes, before a drilled effort low and hard, which was only kept out by an extraordinary Andrews save.

The first half teetered out, with Jonathan Stewart being booked for a cynical foul acting as the only other action of note.

Similar to the first 45, Bonnyrigg started fast, and had their best chance of the game shortly after the restart. Kieran Mitchell powered down the left side, and broke into the box, firing a curled effort goalwards. Fleming showed his experience, and produced an excellent diving save from close range.

There were only a couple of half chances to show for very defensive game of football, and the only other shot on target came for Fife’s front-man Shepherd, who once again chased down a loose ball, and struck it well, from a tricky angle, Andrews once again denied him though.

With twenty minutes still to play in the game, the Rosey Posey captain was sent to the stands after a second bookable offence, hauling Trouten to the ground when on a counter.

The sending off marked the end of the game for both sides, as Bonnyrigg subbed on another two defenders, shoring up the backline, playing for the draw. The visitors got what they were after though, and the two sides split the points.

Match Tickets

Admission will be pay at the gate on Saturday, with cash and card accepted at the away entrance (Gate D). Prices below:

Adults: £12

Concession: £7

Children under 12 with a paying adult: Free!

Note- The card readers at New Dundas Park do not accept prepaid cards such as GoHenry. Please advise your child to take out cash if they use these cards so that they do not attempt to use these in the ground.

Away supporters are asked to enter through Gate D. Those requiring disabled access can enter through the double gates (Gate C).

Away Supporters will be housed in areas 5 & 6. These are on the right-hand side of the dugouts, filtering round to behind the goals on the terracing.

Parking

There will be strictly NO parking at New Dundas Park on the day of the game. There will be stewards on site to ensure that parking is reserved for players and officials, except for those who have booked a disabled parking space in advance. There is a large car park at Lasswade High School which is a 5–10-minute walk from NDP, which you can use on matchday.

Live Stream

Unfortunately for our fans in the UK and Ireland there will be no livestream for the clash this weekend. However, for our global audience, the game can be watched on EFTV with a monthly or season pass.

Team Colours

East Fife will be in their home kit this weekend, tartan top accompanied by black socks and shorts. The goalkeeper will don Turquoise for the tie.

Bonnyrigg Rose will wear their classic Red and White hooped shirt, with red shorts and white socks. The Rosey Posey’s ‘keeper will be clad in neon green for the affair.

Officials

Daniel Graves will be the on-field official for the clash this weekend. His two assistants running the lines will be Alastair Mather and Thomas Denholm.