Ladbrokes League 1
Saturday 11th November 2017
Station Park
Forfar Athletic 1 (Malone 59’, Travis 67’))
East Fife 0
Forfar Athletic XI: McCallum, Bain, Kennedy, Whyte, Travis, Malone, Aitken, MacKintosh, Lochhead, Cox (Peters 87’), Easton (See 83’)
Subs: Cregg, Suthie, McBride, Quigley, Adam
Booked: Bain, Whyte, Easton
East Fife XI: M Hurst, Dunsmore, Docherty (Kane 86’), Page, Piggott, Lamont, Wilson, Millar, Flanagan (Willis 79’), Reilly (Smith 65’), Duggan
Subs: Goodfellow, Mutch
Booked: Dunsmore, Docherty, Wilson
Referee: Alan Muir
Attendance: 647
East Fife were left to rue missed chances as the went down 2-0 to Forfar Athletic at Station Park. Manager Darren Young made two changes to the side that narrowly lost to Raith Rovers last time out with Nathan Flanagan and Kyle Wilson replacing Pat Slattery, who missed out through injury, and Paul Willis.
The home side were afforded an early sight of goal when Scott Lochhead found space down the right and managed to get a shot away that ‘keeper Mark Hurst was forces to turn behind for a corner. Forfar had another opportunity on 6 minutes with a free kick from 35-yards. The ball was laid-off for Dylan Easton but his strike was never going to trouble Hurst.
The visitors had been slow to settle into the game but were starting to threaten the Forfar goal with Nathan Flanagan forcing Loons ‘keeper Marc McCallum to tip his left-footed strike over the bar. East Fife had another opportunity shortly after when Mark Lamont corner was spilled by McCallum into the path of Kyle Wilson but he was unable to keep hit shot down.
East Fife enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the first half and were unlucky not to open the scoring on 20 minutes when a good break upfield by Aaron Dunsmore saw him pick out Flanagan level with the 6-yard box. Flanagan fired in a cross from the right that narrowly failed to find Kieran Millar in the centre of the goal. Moments later, Lamont played a free kick on the edge of the box along the ground that almost deflected into the net but the Forfar defence were able to scramble clear.
When Forfar did venture into the East Fife half during the first period they failed to test Hurst; David Cox with their best chance 24 minutes but he strike from 15-yards was never going to trouble the East Fife stopper. At the other end, Flanagan’s blocked shot fell into the path of Mark Docherty 20-yards from goal who had McCallum scrambling backwards to collect at the second attempt. East Fife had one final chance before the break when Millar got on the end of a free kick from the left-hand touchline but was unable to steer his header towards goal.
East Fife started the way they finished after the break with Jonathan Page heading down a free kick into the path of Chris Duggan who just failed to connect at the back post. Excellent work by Ben Reilly near the corner flag saw him steal the ball from Michael Kennedy and fire in a cross from the right-hand side that only needed the faintest of touches but no one was able to connect.
Forfar took the lead against the run of play on 59 minutes when Eddie Malone rose highest to head a Matthew Aitken cross past Hurst. The opening goal failed to dent the visitor’s confidence and they were agonisingly close to levelling the match 5 minutes later. Substitute Kevin Smith got on the end of a Lamont cross at the back post only to see his header cleared off the line before McCallum was able to clear. Forfar put the game to bed when a Michael Travis’ volley found the back of the net on 68 minutes.
The visitors had a couple of chances as the game drew to a close with Smith sending a free kick over the bar on 72 minutes before Page saw his header saved by McCallum with 8 minutes left to play.
A game where East Fife had plenty of the ball and created plenty of chances but were just lacking in the final 3rd.