East Fife were back on the road on Saturday, taking a trip to Forthbank Stadium to face 2nd placed Stirling Albion. Off the back of a heart wrenching defeat last weekend against Albion Rovers, the team were hoping to leave that behind them and put in another solid performance.
One change was made to the team that lost to Albion Rovers at Bayview last weekend as Aaron Steele, serving a one match suspension after being sent off early last weekend, was replaced in the starting line-up by Stewart Murdoch.
There was drama early on as the Binos struck first. In the fifth minute, Dunsmore was fed the ball on the right wing and sent in a pinpoint accurate cross to Fotheringham at the back who knocks it past Fleming putting the home side 1-0 up.
Five minutes later, the Binos doubled their lead as once again Dunsmore was the provider, this time finding Leitch in the box whose header finds the net, giving Albion a strong advantage after only 10 minutes.
The Binos pressure didn’t stop there as instantly after the restart Carrick laid the ball off to Fotheringham on the left who took the ball into the area however this time Fleming was able to stop the ball from rippling the net.
After the early onslaught from Stirling, East Fife began to grow more into the game as more chances fell the way of the Fifers. In the 28th minute, Shepherd took the ball round McGregor and drove into the box and fired in a a shot although the Stirling ‘keeper got down well at his near post to stop East Fife from pulling a goal back
With five minutes left of the half, the pressure finally paid off for the Fifers. Newton plays in Ferguson who reaches the by-line to cut the ball back for Trouten in the middle of the box who taps it past Currie.
HALF TIME: Stirling Albion 2-1 East Fife
The East Fife pressure continued into the second half with a good passage play, starting from Fleming, saw the ball fall to Shepherd in the box whose shot had the power taken out of it by McLean and Currie was able to collect.
Against the run of play, Stirling broke up the field and had a chance to put the game to bed when Carrick picked up the loose ball on the edge of the area and lays off to Cooper, but his shot is comfortably saved by Fleming to the centre of the goal.
As the match was drawing to a close, East Fife ramped it up the ante searching for the equaliser. Substitute Steven took the ball out wide and crossed for Ferguson whose header dropped wide of the post.
In the second minute of injury time, Stirling managed to kill the game with a quick break up the part from East Fife’s corner with the Binos finding themselves with two forwards against Fleming. Fleming did incredibly well to save the initial one-on-one against Fotheringham however Dunsmore collected the rebound and finds the net, capping off a game whereby both had strong spells of control, but it was the home side who claimed the three points.
FULL-TIME: Stirling Albion 3-1 East Fif
After a week’s break due to Scottish Cup matches, the Methil Men are back at home for three consecutive matches, the first being versus 8th positioned Annan Athletic.
Report by Andrew Laing
Stirling Albion Team: Currie, McGregor, Dunsmore, McLean, McGeachie, Banner, Leitch (Clark 64’), Fotheringham, Denholm (Moore 76’), Davidson (Cooper 64’), Carrick (Burns 90+4’)
East Fife Team: Fleming, Mercer, Denham, Murdoch, Newton, Millar, Balde, Ferguson, Healy (Steven 70’), Shepherd, Trouten
Referee: Alan Newlands
Attendance: 893 (170 East Fife fans)