Ladbrokes League One, Indodrill Stadium, Tuesday 28th February 2017
Alloa Athletic 3 (Spence 11’, Cawley 38’, Longworth 80’)
East Fife 0 ()
Man of the Match: Jason Kerr
Alloa Athletic XI: McDowall, Taggart, Waters, McKeown, Graham, Hetherington, Cawley (Robertson 69’), Flannigan, Spence (Holmes 77’), Kirkpatrick, Mackin (Longworth 61’)
Subs Not Used: Holmes, Marr, Hoggan, Hynd, Wilson
Booked: None
East Fife XI: Goodfellow, Kane, Page, Kerr, Brown, Curran, Robinson, Insall, Penrice, Austin (Duggan 67’), Reilly (Lamont 67’)
Subs Not Used: Mutch, Hurst
Booked: Austin, Brown, Page
Referee: Barry Cook
Attendance: 436
East Fife’s unbeaten run came to an end after a 3-0 defeat by Alloa Athletic at the Indodrill Stadium. Manager Barry Smith made four changes to the side that drew with Peterhead at the weekend with Pat Slattery, Mark Lamont, Chris Duggan and Kevin Smith making way for Ben Reilly, Jordan Austin, Jamie Insall and new loan-signing Jesse Curran.
East Fife started the game well however it was the home side who took the lead on 11 minutes when Greig Spence got in between the East Fife defence to head home Dylan Mackin’s cross. New signing Jesse Curran burst through the middle of the park on 15 minutes but his shot could only find the side-netting before Jamie Insall headed Ben Reilly’s cross narrowly wide at the back post a minute later.
The home side were growing into the game and a combination of Ryan Goodfellow and Jason Kerr did enough to deny Jordan Kirkpatrick before Iain Flannigan’s free kick was headed headed just over by Mackin on 36 minutes. Alloa doubled their lead a couple of minutes later when Kevin Cawley picked up a lose pass in midfield and raced towards goal before firing past Goodfellow.
After the break Andy Graham tried his luck from 35-yards, forcing Goodfellow into an excellent save after taking a deflection on its way through. At the other end Craig McDowall was unable to hold Reilly’s strike from the right but gathered at the second attempt before substitute Chris Duggan tried to curl the ball into the top corner but missed by a couple of yards. Goodfellow was forced into another fine save on 78 minutes, this time to deny Jon Robertson.
The home side sealed the win and all three points 10 minutes from time when Jamie Longworth lost his marker at a set piece to send a glancing header into the net from 10-yards. East Fife almost grabbed a consolation goal with four minutes remaining but McDowall reacted well to keep out Duggan’s header.
East Fife were beaten by the better team on the night and will attempt to get back to winning ways against Albion Rovers on Saturday.
After the match Manager Barry Smith spoke to East Fife TV:
“We’re running with a tight squad and we’ve brought young Jesse Curran in who I thought actually did very well in the game. We don’t make excuses we got punished for making mistakes tonight but I don’t think we should forget how well they boys have done since I came here. They’ve been excellent so we’re not going to be over critical. We know that we can do better and that’s on Saturday.”