Fifers Knocked Out of Scottish Cup by Brora Rangers

William Hill Scottish Cup

Saturday 20^th January 2018

Bayview Stadium

East Fife 0

Brora Rangers 1 (Williamson 11’)

East Fife XI: Goodfellow, Dunsmore, Kane, Page, Linton, Millar (Thomson 45’), Slattery, Lamont (Wilson 81’), Wilkie, Smith, Duggan

Subs: Watson, Mutch, Cordery, Willis

Booked: Wilkie

Brora Rangers XI: Malin, Pickles, Duff, Williamson (Ross 82’), MacDonald, Graham, MacLean, Morrison, Nicolson, MacKay (Pickles 76’), Sutherland (Brindle 83’)

Subs: MacLeod, Lisle, Campbell, Hoban

Booked: Pickles, MacDonald, Graham, Brindle

Referee: David Munro

Attendance: 685

East Fife crashed out of the Scottish Cup following a 1-0 defeat at home to Highland League side Brora Rangers. Manager Darren Young made one change to the side that conquered Alloa Athletic last time out with Kevin Smith replacing the injured Mark Docherty in the starting line-up.

As with the previous game, the home side were slow to get into the game, with the visitors looking the sharper side in the early stages and almost opened the scoring on the 7^th minute when good build up play saw the ball fall to Mark Nicolson on the edge of the area but he could only drag his shot wide of target. The warning signs had been there for East Fife and they found themselves behind with 11 minutes played when Colin Williamson was allowed to head home unchallenged from Gavin Morrison’s corner. Steven MacKay had the chance to double the lead on 23 minutes when he got on the end of a free kick but his header was straight at Ryan Goodfellow in the East Fife goal.

East Fife had their first real opportunity on 36 minutes when Scott Linton won the ball in the middle of the park, laid the ball off for Pat Slattery who picked out Chris Duggan with a cross from the left but his shot was well blocked by the Brora defence. Linton sent a free kick wide of the post from 25-yards on 37 minutes in the only other action of note in the first half.

East Fife introduced new signing Craig Thomson from the bench at the start of the second half and almost and an immediate impact when he twice broke through the Brora defence but found he cross deflected behind for a corner on both occasions. The home side had certainly started the second half better than the first and had their first chance of an equaliser on 53 minutes when Kevin Smith knocked down Mark Lamont cross into the path of Slattery but his right-footed effort was wide of the right-hand post.

Ally MacDonald went close for the visitors on 54 minutes when he narrowly failed to turn Scott Graham’s cross into the net before East Fife should have equalised a minutes later. Duggan took advantage of a poor pass back from MacKay to take the ball round Brora ‘keeper Joe Malin but just missed the target from a tight angle. East Fife were agonisingly close to an equaliser again on 57 minutes when Linton just clipped the outside of the post with a free kick from the edge of the box.

Smith made a good break forward on 73 minutes and played in Thomson down the right who cut inside but his right-footed effort flashed past the post as East Fife continued to press. Chris Kane had one final opportunity to force a replay when he got on the end of Thomson’s cross from the right but his downward header was wide of target.

Craig Thomson Joins East Fife

We are delighted to announce that Craig Thomson has agreed a deal to join East Fife making him Darren Young’s first signing of the transfer window. He goes straight into the squad for today’s game.

22-year-old Craig started his career at local side Kennoway United before joining to St. Johnstone youth academy in 2008, turning professional in 2011. He went on to make 27 first team appearances for the Perth side. Craig also completed two successful loan spells with, first, Elgin City in 2014/2015, and then with Stranraer last season.

Welcome to Bayview Craig!

Fifers Aiming for Place in Last Sixteen

East Fife take a break from league action tomorrow afternoon when they take on Highland League side Brora Rangers in the fourth round of the William Hill Scottish Cup. Ross Tokely’s men make the long journey south from Sutherland hopeful that they can take another SPFL scalp, having disposed of Stranraer at Stair Park in the previous round thanks to a Steven Mackay strike deep into stoppage time to secure a 1-0 win.

Bayview boss Darren Young was delighted with his side’s 2-1 success at home to on-form Alloa Athletic last week. It was a good all round performance in all departments from the Fifers, topped off by two excellent goals by midfielders Mark Lamont and Mark Docherty. Visitors Brora were also in action for the first time in three weeks, earning a hard fought 2-2 draw at Buckie Thistle. 

The two sides have previously faced each other on only one occasion in a competitive fixture. Back in August 2014 the Methil men had to come from behind twice to secure a 3-2 win in the Challenge Cup at Dudgeon Park. Nathan Austin scored a late winner in that midweek tie, with Jon McShane firing home a double. Steven Mackay and Zander Sutherland were the men on target for the Cattachs, with both players expected to feature tomorrow for the high scoring visitors. 

East Fife’s injury woes took a turn for the better last week with club captain Kevin Smith making an appearance as substitute and manager Darren Young is hopeful that defender Craig Watson is not  too far away from a welcome return to the squad.

Supporters of both clubs are reminded that they are welcome to enjoy refreshments at the stadium bars before and after the game.

The Bayview | Black and Gold and Blue - Ian Gardiner

Signed from Perthshire side Balbeggie Amateurs on 9th October 1948, twenty-year-old Ian Gardiner established himself in the reserves during season 1948/49 and the first half of season 1949/50 before being handed a starting place in the East Fife team that defeated Raith Rovers 3-0 in front of Bayview’s record attendance of 22,515 on 2nd January 1950. The right-winger kept his place in the side for the following day’s trip to Dumfries, where manager Scot Symon’s faith in the player was rewarded when Ian scored a “spectacular” third goal in an emphatic five-nil victory over Queen of the South. Competition for a regular place in the side was fierce during the early 1950’s, however, and Ian was unable to establish himself at his recognised position of outside-right, with East Fife stalwart Bobby Black firmly established in that position.

When the club eventually replaced Black with future legend Jackie Stewart, signed from Dunfermline Athletic, the decision was made to try Ian at centre-forward, and East Fife’s faith in the player was rewarded when, during season 1951/52, he netted twenty-six competitive goals as the Methil men achieved a final top-flight league position of third. When the player repeated his goal-scoring prowess during the following campaign, the international selectors decided to have a look at the Methil “goal-machine”, and Ian Gardiner was duly selected for the newly-formed Scotland ‘B’ side to face France in Toulouse on Tuesday 11th November 1952. The purpose of the ‘B’ international matches was to give promising players who had the potential to eventually turn out for the full international side experience and games in an international set-up in order to fully assess their abilities. Also included in the party selected to travel to France in November 1952 were future Scotland internationalists Tommy Docherty (Preston North End), Willie Ormond (Hibs), Doug Cowie (Dundee), Jimmy Davidson (Partick Thistle), Ian McMillan (Airdrieonians) and Tom Gemmell (St. Mirren). Please note that the last named player is NOT the former Celtic, Notts Forest and Dundee player of the same name!

With the match being played in almost incessant drizzle, both sides started nervously, but Ian Gardiner nearly broke the deadlock during the opening exchanges when he almost beat French ‘keeper Remetter in a race for the ball. Scotland eventually gained control of the game, and the home ‘keeper was called into action on two further occasions to deny Gardiner. Unfortunately, Ian failed to find the net in what ended up a no-scoring draw, during which Hibs’ Willie Ormond sent a penalty high over the cross-bar during the second half much to the vociferous delight of the 25,000 home crowd! Ian failed to keep his place in the ‘B’ international side for their following fixture against England at Easter Road four months later, but continued to impress in the East Fife side and, on 24th October 1953, scored the opening goal in the League Cup Final victory over Partick Thistle at Hampden as the Methil men won that trophy for a record third time.

Ian Gardiner pulled on the dark blue of Scotland for the second time as an East Fife player when he was selected to play for the Scottish League side to face the Irish League on Wednesday 15th September 1954 at Windsor Park in Belfast. Although the match report which appeared in the following edition of the Dundee Courier claimed that Gardiner “had an unfortunate night”, the East Fife man played a huge part in the build up to the first two goals before heading home the third! Just over a year later, Ian Gardiner signed for Motherwell, and during his time with the Fir Park side the player was finally selected to play for the full Scotland international side; a 1-1 draw with Wales at Hampden in November 1957. As a Motherwell player, he had earlier won a second ‘B’ international cap against England in February 1957. After his Motherwell days were over, Ian returned to Bayview for a second spell following a very brief period with Raith Rovers, but remained at Bayview for less than a season before moving on to St Johnstone and eventually Montrose.

 Jim Corstorphine

East Fife Pick Up Much Needed Win Against Alloa

Ladbrokes League 1

Saturday 13^th January 2018

Bayview Stadium

East Fife 2 (Lamont 42’, Docherty 75’)

Alloa Athletic 1 (Martin 68’)

East Fife XI: Goodfellow, Dunsmore, Kane, Page, Linton, Docherty, Lamont, Slattery. Wilkie (Smith 77’), Millar, Duggan

Subs: G Hurst, Wilson, M Hurst, Willis

Booked: Duggan

Alloa Athletic XI: Parry, Taggart, Crane (Martin 36’), Graham, Robertson, Fleming (Malcolm 77’), Stewart, Hetherington, Cawley, Flannigan, Renton

Subs: McKeown, Hoggan, Cunningham, Goodwin, Wilson

Booked: Fleming

Referee: Scott Millar

Attendance: 492

East Fife recorded their first win since November with a thoroughly deserved win against in-firm Alloa Athletic at Bayview. Manager Darren Young made one change to the side that drew with Airdrieonians last time out with fit-again Pat Slattery returning to the starting line-up at the expense of Nathan Flanagan who had returned to St. Mirren following the completion of his loan spell.

Alloa were first to threaten when a well worked corner fell to Scott Taggert making a late run into the box, but his header was cleared by Chris Duggan inside the opening couple of minutes. The home sides first opening came on 6 minutes when a quickly taken free kick made its way to Mark Lamont down the left-hand side and his inviting cross was sliced over his own bar by Garry Fleming.

The visitors were the stronger side in the first period of the game and were looking dangerous on the break and East Fife had a lucky escape on 10 minutes when Ross Stewart chased down a short back-pass but fortunately for the home side ‘keeper Ryan Goodfellow just did enough to put him off. East Fife had Goodfellow to thank again on 16 minutes when he pulled off a finger-tip save to keep out a close-range effort from Kevin Cawley. Another quick break by the visitors saw Stewart find himself in space inside the area but was denied by a goal-line clearance from Kieran Millar on 18 minutes.

The hosts were slowly working their way into the game; Kyle Wilkie winning the ball in minefield and playing in Duggan down the left who cut inside but couldn’t keep his shot down. Duggan had another half-chance just before the half-hour mark when he fired in a shot from 20-yards but his effort was straight at Alloa ‘keeper Neil Parry. Lamont found space on the right to send in a cross that picked out Scott Linton at the back post but his header was deflected behind for a corner on 31 minutes as the hosts started to dominate. Wilkie tried a long-range effort that was held by Parry before East Fife took the lead on 41 minutes. Lamont picked up the ball on the right-hand side, surrounded by Alloa defenders, and worked enough room for himself to whip in a cross that completely deceived Parry and found the back of the net – Lamont would later claim that he meant it!

After the break, Cawley fired in a long-range effort that failed to trouble Goodfellow and Andy Graham headed wide of target from a free kick as the visitors looked for a way back into the game. Dunsmore took advantage of a few ricochets to hit the by-line and fires in a shot that flashed across the face of goal on 58 minutes before Lamont narrowly missed the target with a left-footed strike as the home side searched for second but it was the visitors who grabbed an equaliser on 67 minutes when East Fife failed to deal with a free kick into the box by Iain Flannigan. The ball was blocked on the line twice before substitute Adam Martin bundled the ball over the line.

East Fife didn’t let their heads go down and scored what turned out to be the winner with 15 minutes to play. Lamont fired in a cross from the right that was cleared as far as Dunsmore 30-yards out who lifted the ball back in, Slattery managed to flick the ball on into the path of Docherty who curled his right-footed effort past Parry into the far corner. Flannigan had an opportunity to draw the visitors level again on 81 minutes with a free kick just outside the box but sent his effort over the bar before substitute Kevin Smith had the chance to seal the points for the home side with 5 minutes left when he broke down the left but Parry was out quickly to block.

In the end a third goal wasn’t required but East Fife emerged as thoroughly deserved winners and picked up a much needed three points.