Ladbrokes League 1, Bayview Stadium, Saturday 19th November 2016
East Fife 1 (Insall 45’)
Queen’s Park 2 (Cummins 22’, Millen pen 54’)
Man of the Match: Jamie Insall (Chosen by John Tindal, match sponsor)
East Fife XI: Hurst, Slattery (Naysmith 63’), Kane (O’Hara 67’), Page, Kerr, Lamont, Brown, Insall, Smith, Wilkie, Wallace (Mercer 63’)
Subs Not Used: Goodfellow
Booked: Kane, Wilkie
Queen’s Park XI: Muir, Millen, Gibson, McKernon, McGeever, Cummins, Woods (Galt 67’), Fotheringham, Zanatta (Carter 85’), Brady (McVey 81’), Burns
Subs Not Used: Malone, Warton, Brown, MacPherson
Booked: Galt, Gibson
Referee: Mat Northcroft
Attendance: 557
East Fife welcomed fellow promoted side Queen’s Park to Bayview but it was the visitors who left with the points courtesy of a 2-1 win. Gary Naysmith made one change to the side that drew with Alloa Athletic on Tuesday with Ryan Goodfellow dropping to the bench to make way from Mark Hurst who returned to the side following suspension.
The home side started the brightest and had a couple chances to take an early lead. First former Fifer Muir was on hand to cut out a dangerous Lamont cross with Insall waiting to pounce before Wallace was just beaten to Smith’s cross by Burns who managed to head clear from almost on the goal line. Instead it was Queen’s Park who opened the scoring against the run of play with Cummins lost his marker to bundle home McKernon’s corner on 22 minutes. Woods had the chance to double their lead 4 minutes later but saw his shot from the right deflected for a corner.
Muir pulled off the save of the match on 28 minutes when he got down well to keep out volley from Wallace after seeing the ball late. Queen’s Park should have been 2-0 up five minutes before half-time when Zanatta broke free from the East Fife defence but with only Hurst to beat he delayed his shot too long which allowed Kerr time to recover and put in a superb tackle on the penalty spot. East Fife grabbed a deserved equaliser on the stroke of half-time when Lamont raced on to a loose ball on the left side of the box and is shot-come-cross was tapped in by Insall.
Queen’s Park were awarded a penalty 10 minutes after the break when Wilkie pulled on the shirt of Burns inside the area and gave referee Northcroft little option but to point to the spot. Millen stepped up to take the kick and waited for Hurst to dive before casually chipping the ball into the net. Clear-cut chances were few and far between in the second half but Muir was again on hand to deny East Fife on 74 minutes, this time keeping out a strong Smith drive. Another game, another missed opportunity for East Fife.
After the match Manager Gary Naysmith spoke to EFtv:
“I’m a bit fed up to be honest, coming in here saying the same things, losing games that we shouldn’t be losing. I’ve let the players know a few home truths there, there’s nothing in the game but what’s won the game is that Queen’s Park have defended better than us, we can’t keep giving away the goals that we’re giving away and it’s just going round the team. Today Jason has lost his man at a corner; Kyle’s made a horrendous tackle, then panicked and pulled the guy back and however soft it is, it is a penalty. I can’t keep happening; we’re going to find ourselves in a relegation battle. For 15 minutes in the first half, they’ve not been in our half, we lose a man from a corner and we’re one-nil down, knocks the wind out our sails everybody’s got to pick themselves up again, we get out of jail again when we get a goal before half-time then it’s one all. Then the second half, again we’ve started really well and again I think it’s the first time they’ve been in our half; we don’t go into a tackle properly then it leads to a penalty. It’s two-one again and we can’t keep doing it because our confidence is low as it is and what we’re doing it beating ourselves. I’ve sort of molly-coddled them and said we were playing well but somewhere along the line it needs to stop. If it doesn’t stop it will either other players coming in or it will be me going out the door.”