Ladbrokes League 1, Bayview Stadium, Saturday 28th January 2017
East Fife 0
Stranraer 0
Man of the Match: Scott Robinson
East Fife XI: Goodfellow, Slattery, Kane, Page, Kerr, Brown (Lamont 79’) Smith, Robinson, Insall (Duggan 50’), Penrice, Paterson
Subs Not Used: Trialist, Mutch, Austin
Booked: Paterson
Stranraer XI: Belford, Pettigrew, Barron, Neill, Dick, Robertson, Bell, Agnew, Thomson (Trialist 67’), Gibson, Malcolm (McGuigan 67’)
Subs Not Used: Currie, Wilson, Turner, Maley, Morena
Booked: Gibson, Barron, Bell
Referee: Scott Millar
Attendance: 584
East Fife welcomed League 1’s bottom side Stranraer to Bayview and played out a 0-0 draw in which neither side did enough to trouble the respective goalkeeper. Manager Barry Smith was able to name an unchanged side to the one which overcame Livingston in the William Hill Scottish Cup last weekend.
The game kicked off in horrendous conditions with a mixture of snow and rain falling over Bayview. East Fife had an early chance when Scott Robinson was played in by Nicki Paterson but Cameron Belford was out quickly to block his shot. Stranraer were enjoying the better of the play between the two sides and had a couple of chances inside the opening 25 minutes. First Ryan Thomson headed wide from Craig Pettigrew’s cross before Willie Gibson’s effort from 35-yards was well held by Goodfellow. The visitors should have taken the lead on 22 minutes when Ryan Thomson took advantage of a slip by Jason Kerr to cut the ball back to Scott Agnew who fired wide from 20-yards. East Fife had the last chance of the half when Paterson played the ball over the top to Kevin Smith but his shot from the left-hand side of the box was just over.
The second half saw the introduction of Chris Duggan who continued his return from injury and East Fife began to grow into the game however both sides continued to struggle to create any meaningful chances. Pettigrew and James Penrice tried their luck from distance without success. East Fife had a penalty claim waved away by referee Scott Millar when Duggan appeared to be impeded in the box by David Barron. Smith had a shot from the edge of the box saved by Belford before Steven Bell headed narrowly over from a corner at the other end. Liam Dick had a glorious chance to grab three points for the visitors 9 minutes from time but fired wide from less than 10-yards.
East Fife’s unbeaten run stretches to 10 games with 7 wins and 3 draws.
After the match Manager Barry Smith spoke to East Fife TV:
“This league is a very difficult league; any team can beat each other at any given time. I said to the boys it keeps the run going, it’s a good point. We always knew they were going to get a lift with a new manager coming in; they’ve a lot of experience in their team. When you reflect on it, for as much as you want three points at home, a point it probably a fair result”.
“Again we’ve got a clean sheet which shows how well we’re defending. The boys know we can play better but when you’re not playing well it’s important that you keep clean sheets and make sure that you get something from the game. We know we can play better but that’s not a reflection on the players they’re going to have games like that where it’s a tough, tough game and the weather affected the way we want to play. We’ll look back and say it was a good point.”