East Fife 5-0 Bonnyrigg Rose, Saturday 5th October, William Hill League 2, MGM Timber Bayview Stadium
We extended our lead at the top of the William Hill league 2 on Saturday to 4 points, following a thumping, yet perhaps flattering 5-0 win over Bonnyrigg Rose at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium.
Dick Campbell's men started well off the pace, with Bonnyrigg coming out of the traps much faster than the Fifers. However, as they have showed all season so far, the Methil Milan were threatening whilst on the attack. With 15 minutes on the clock, loanee Andrew Tod skipped in behind the Rosey Posey backline, where he was brought down by Greig Allen (on loan from Rangers). The referee adjudged that the challenge was a foul, and also denied a goals-scoring opportunity, without making a play for the ball, so as a result he awarded the Fifers a penalty, and sent Allen packing, which made for a rather lacklustre debut. Alan Trouten stood over the penalty, and made absolutely no mistakes, firing home for the Fifers. 1-0.
There was not too much in the first half following the goal, with the two sides evenly matched, despite East Fife having the man advantage. With just moments left in the first half though, Trouten made it two for himself, and two for the Fife, with a remarkable run, beating the offside trap and slotting his headed effort home.
We continued to struggle in the second half in terms of performance, though the goals still came incredibly naturally for them. Firstly, Alan Trouten grabbed his hat trick with a header from a corner
Andrew Tod was next to test the goalkeeper, forcing Ritchie into an unfortunate own goal. The young Par launched his effort off the crossbar, and the resulting bounce cannoned off Ritchie’s back and bobbled over the line, for 4-0 to East Fife.
With ten minutes to play, the management team introduced a bright youngster, Masson Winn, who made his debut for the Fifers. It was his second competitive game in just two days, following a developmental league cup tie against Linlithgow Rose, where he scored a brace in a 3-0 win for the young Fifers. Winn looked sharp when he came on and found himself in space with five minutes to go, with an intelligent run fooling the Bonnyrigg defence. Winn’s shot was well struck, though it was into the path of Ritchie, who denied the debutant a goal in his first professional appearance.
The game looked dead and buried, though Andrew Tod, who was chasing his first professional goal, was not finished. His second attempt, this time in the 90th minute saw the ‘keeper rooted to the spot, as Tod headed past him from a corner making it East Fife five in the end!
Reporters Man of the Match: Alan Trouten
Who else? A second hattrick of the season, taking him to 13 goals in 14 appearances already, Trouten was the clear choice this week. He also showed great versatility, playing off the striker early doors, before dropping deep later in the game and nullifying the visitors.
East Fife – Fleming, Newton, Slattery (Laaref 69’), Munro, Walker (Docherty 45’ (Winn 79’)), Millar, McManus, Trouten, Healy (Shepherd 70’), Tod, Austin. Subs not used: Gilfillan, Norey, Briggs, McFarlane.
Bonnyrigg Rose – Ritchie, Mailer, Allen, Connelly (Gardiner 81’), Murphy, Higginbotham (McGachie 63’), Currie, Barrett, Arnott (Watson 62’), Ferrie, Ross (Lorimer 20’). Subs not used: Andres, McRoberts, Scarborough, Martin.
Referee – Alex Shepherd
Attendance - 792
Report by Oli Anderson
Photograph - East Fife Media
