East Fife 0-2 Stenhousemuir, Saturday 19th August 2023
MGM Timber Bayview Stadium, cinch League Two
East Fife continued their poor start in League Two, falling 2-0 to Stenhousemuir, at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium on Saturday. The Fifers now have only a single point from their 3 opening games and find themselves at the foot of the table after 3 rounds of fixtures. One of the few positives from the disappointing showing was the new home kit, as the Fifers return to the Black and Gold stripes to mark the club’s 120th anniversary.
The first chance of the game, however, came for the Fifers through Jack Healy. In textbook Healy fashion, the winger cut inside, and unleashed a curled effort on the far left that was blocked from its trajectory toward the top corner. Shortly after, McManus was denied by Jamieson too, in a promising start from the Fife.
As is apparent with watching the Fife from time to time, it’s the hope that kills you, and the tides started to turn soon after, with Fleming being pulled into a great double save to keep the score level. The experience stopper had a great game, keeping the score down from what could have been a demolition at times, with his reactions being called upon more than once.
The opener came 10 minutes later through Gregor Buchanan, who headed home after the Fifers failed to clear their lines. A stramash in the area led to the skipper getting on the end of an ariel duel and firing the ball into the roof of the net.
In routine fashion, the Fifers pushed but the Warriors sat back to see out the first half. Shepherd had a half chance in the dying embers of the first 45 but his half volley attempt was fired well wide.
The second half saw the Black and Gold trying to find the equaliser, to no avail. With Stenny defending robustly, and as has been a common theme this year so far, the Black and Gold lacking the cutting edge.
The chance of the game came from Nathan Austin, who was found by Healy with a great cutback. The winger jinked inside two then onto his right foot, before lashing a low driven ball to Austin, but the striker couldn’t suss out his feet and fired off target.
The nail in the coffin came in the 93rd minute, Adam Brown capitalised on the break, doubling the Warriors’ advantage, confirming that Gary Naysmith’s men would run out winners. Second best on the park on the day unfortunately, as Stenhousemuir looked like an outfit more than capable of cracking on and pushing for a higher finish than their 6th place from last year.
Although there is plenty of time, there is also plenty of work needing done this week for the Methil Men, as this weekend we travel up to Borough Briggs for a tussle with Elgin. In our last meeting, we ran out 3-1 winners during the Viaplay Cup group stage. A similar result is both desired and required this weekend.
Report by Oli Anderson
East Fife – Fleming, Murdoch, Docherty, Easton, Comerford, Millar (Walls 61’), McManus, Trouten, Shepherd, Healy, Austin (Schiavone 82’). Subs not used: Newton, Page, Philp, Hambrook, Beveridge
Stenhousemuir – D Jamieson, Meechan, Buchanan, N Jamieson, Bilham, Wedderburn, Berry, Taylor (Brown 69’), O’Reilly (Kirkpatrick 79’), Aitken, Yates (Lynch 90+2’). Subs not used: Lyle
Referee – Dan McFarlane
Attendance - 553