Match Preview - Clyde (Home)

Oli Anderson’s previews tomorrow’s play-off match against Clyde.

After a turbulent season for the Fifers filled with some triumphant highs and worrisome lows, we have wound up in the playoffs for one last push. Tomorrow night we welcome the Bully Wee to MGM Timber Bayview Stadium, to mark the start of East Fife’s playoff campaign.

There are only a potential 4 games between the Methil Men and the Third Tier of Scottish Football as we strive for promotion. Our Semi Final opponents are current League One side Clyde, who finished in 9th place over the course of the league season on just 24 points. They finished on a high however as they overcame Montrose 2-1 at the weekend, showing their determination as McDonald scored the winner in the 91st minute.

East Fife fell to Forfar Athletic in what was a truly inspiring performance at Station Park last weekend. McDonald made a whole host of changes, with only full backs Steele and Newton retaining their place in the squad ahead of the dead rubber tie. East Fife were lively and took the game by the scruff of the neck and were the better team throughout. St Johnstone loanee Taylor Steven excelled as he caused so much bother for the Loons on the wing. Nditi was sent off for a second bookable offence in the first half which allowed Fife to control the game. Despite this, Forfar grabbed a winner in the last minute of play after East Fife had missed a handful of chances and dominated the proceeding.

Ones to Watch

Clyde

Goals have been hard to come by for the Bully Wee this season, having only scored 35 goals in 36 games across the league season. However, one man who has started to hit form at the right time is young striker Oliver McDonald, who has only scored five times this season, though 2 of them came at the weekend.

Their top contributor in all competitions this year is Ross Cunningham, who has scored 10 and set up 3 goals in all competitions this season.

Euan Cameron is also one to be wary of this season as the midfielder has assisted 8 goals for Clyde, showing his creative abilities, proving that Clyde are not a team to be discounted.

East Fife

Our Talisman this year who has brought the most goals for us this year is Alan Trouten. Trouts has converted 10 times for us in the league this year, and has also set up one too, the attacking midfielder, turned holding DM has showed his prowess and class over the course of his debut season in Methil.

Another man with astounding numbers considering his position this season is St Johnstone loanee Alex Ferguson, who has contributed an amazing 18 goals from the middle of the park, in the league alone this year. Fergie’s 6 goals have paired well with his 12 assists, as his movement and passing ability have torn teams to shreds across the season.

One who perhaps slides under the radar is East Fife’s number 9 Scott Shepherd. He came out of the blocks at tremendous pace netting 4 of his 7 league goals in the first 6 games of the season, before his finishing became secondary to his game. Shepherd’s hold up play, and vision are what make him such an asset for East Fife, as the front man has also assisted on 8 occasions this league campaign.

Squad News

Everyone made it through the Forfar game at the weekend unscathed, and as a result, Greig McDonald has a full squad ready for tomorrow night.

Match Admission

We have dropped our admission prices for our playoff game tomorrow, and we will be exclusively Pay at The Gate. Please note, turnstiles are cash only however card payments can be made at the matchday reception.

Season Tickets will NOT be valid for the game; however, Season Ticket Holders are still entitled to their seats upon entry. Please Find Prices Below

Adult: £15

Concession: £10

Under 16: £5

As with all league matches this season, all member of East Fife Community Football Club & East Fife Girls & Womens’ Football Club who are under 16 go free with a paying adult or as part of an organised group. Eligible members should enter through the Community Gate at the home end of the stand.

Team Colours

East Fife are back in their home kit, wearing the black and gold top, with black shorts and socks too. The Fife goalie will wear all blue tomorrow night.

Clyde will wear red and black for the tie, with white shorts and red socks. The Bully Wee ‘keeper will be in green.

Live Stream

For those who can’t make it to Bayview tomorrow night, a live stream is available worldwide via East Fife TV for £15.

Referees

The on pitch official tomorrow night will be Barry Cook, and his two assistants running the lines are Drew Kirkland and Michael Banks. Stewart Luke is the Fourth official for the tie.

Refreshments

The Stadium bar will be open from 6pm for pre-match refreshments tomorrow night. Pie stalls will be open at both ends of the stadium from 7pm. Pie stalls accept both cash and card.

Programme

Issue 23 of The Bayview will be available for purchase tomorrow night for £2.50 outside of the stadium.

Match Report - Forfar Athletic

Forfar Athletic v East Fife, cinch League Two, Saturday 6th May 2023, Station Park

East Fife travelled north for the final game of the regular season to take on 5th placed Forfar Athletic at Station Park. After confirming a play-off place following a 2-1 defeat of Albion Rovers last weekend, Manager Greig McDonald used the opportunity for some valuable gametime for players who haven’t featured as much recently.

Nine changes were made to the starting line-up this week with Reece Beveridge, Johnathan Page, Aidan Quinn, Rabin Omar, Pat Slattery, Kieran Millar, Aidan Denholm, Connor Young and Taylor Steven all handed starting berths. Under 20s players Jude Black, Logan Briggs, Keir Allan and Brendan Ramsay were also included among the substitutes.

East Fife’s first chance of the game came in the 19th minute when the Fifers won a free kick just outside the box on the left-hand touchline. With Loons’ keeper McCallum expecting a cross, Omar tried to catch him off guard at the near post, but stopper manged to tip the ball over the bar.

In the 25th minute of the game, a long ball over the top of the Forfar defence reached the feet of Steven who cuts inside and, from just outside the box, forced McCallum into a very good save with a powerful drive. 

As the half an hour mark was approaching, Forfar were attempting to break out from the back following an East Fife attack when Nditi was caught by Omar, however the referee ruled this to be a dive and sent the Forfar man for an early shower after picking up a second yellow.

The resulting free kick was a pinpoint delivery to the back post which Steele headed back across goal, but no one in an East Fife shirt was able to get on the end.

Just before half-time, Steven curled a corner deep into the middle of the box and picked out Steele who had managed to break free from his marker, but his headed effort is just wide of the post. 

HALF TIME: Forfar Athletic 0-0 East Fife 

9 minutes in to the second half, Forfar won a free kick just on the edge of the box and League Two player of the year nominee Craig Slater stood over it. Slater’s effort clipped the top of the wall and dipped on target, but Beveridge got across his goal well to turn behind for a corner.

A minute later, Forfar won another corner and this time Slater picked out Munro who attempted to flick a header goalwards that was cleared off the line by Oamr.

Entering into the final ten minutes of the match, East Fife had a chance to win the game when a low and fast ball across the face of the goal from Steven found Schiavone a couple of yards out, but the forward was denied by an excellent point-blank save from McCallum. 

With five minutes left, Denholm picked up the ball inside his own half and drove forward towards the Forfar back line before laying the ball off the Steven on his left who unselfishly squared the ball to Schiavone who could only balloon his effort over the bar.

Forfar manage to snatch victory late on when Flanagan collected the ball on the right who, with use of trickery, skipped his way into the box and played a ball across goal where Aitken was waiting to tap home the winner. 

FULL TIME: Forfar Athletic 1-0 East Fife

It was an impressive performance at times for East Fife, but it was the Loons who emerged victorious and confirmed that East Fife will be playing Clyde on Tuesday in the playoffs. Clyde finished 9th in league one however their form has improved over recent weeks with wins against FC Edinburgh and Montrose and draws with Peterhead, Kelty Hearts and Falkirk all in their last six games. 

Forfar Athletic: McCallum, Nditi, Moore, Munro, Hutchibson, Thomson (Flanagan 65’), Slater, McCluskey (Aitken 45’), Robson (Watson 66’), Ross (Gillies 31’), Armour (Brindley 45’)

East Fife: Beveridge, Page, Steele (Allan 80’), Newton (Briggs 80’), Quinn (Black 69’), Millar, Slattery, Denholm, Omar (Schiavone 66’), Young (Ramsay 80’), Steven

Referee: Lloyd Wilson

Attendance: 623

Report by Andrew Laing

Admission Info v Clyde (Home)

On Tuesday 9^th May we welcome Clyde to the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium for the first leg of our cinch League One play-off semi-final. Admission for the match will be via pay-at-the-gate. Please note, turnstiles are cash only however card payments can be made at the matchday reception.

Admission Prices

Adults - £15

Over 65* - £10

Under 16s** - £5

*Proof of age/eligibility may be requested

**Proof of age may be requested.

As with all league matches this season, all member of East Fife Community Football Club & East Fife Girls & Womens’ Football Club who are under 16 go free with a paying adult or as part of an organised group. Eligible members should enter through the Community Gate at the home end of the stand.

Season tickets are not valid for this match.

For those who can’t make it to the game, a live stream of the match can be purchased via East Fife TV for £15. This is available worldwide.

Match Preview - Forfar Athletic

Oli Anderson previews tomorrow’s match against Forfar Athletic.

Having confirmed their place in the playoffs last week, the Fifers can relax as they travel to Station Park this weekend to face Forfar Athletic in the last game of the regular season. Last Week, the Fifers recorded a comeback victory against Albion Rovers, where two stunning goals from Healy and Ferguson proved to be the difference makers.

While this was anticipated to be an all-or-nothing game for both sides a few weeks ago, the game now only has ramifications for the Fifers, who if they can better Annan Athletic’s result this weekend will leapfrog them into third allowing a playoff Semi-Final against Dumbarton rather than cinch League 1 side Clyde.

Form

Forfar have amassed 7 points from their last 6 games, although the Loons are without a win in 4. They are coming off the back of 3 consecutive losses, losing 2-1 to Champions Stirling last week, while also struggling against then relegation threatened Elgin City, losing 2-0 as well as currently relegation threatened Bonnyrigg Rose 1-0. Their points have come in the form of a goalless draw against Stranraer, along with a 1-0 win against Dumbarton and a 2-1 win against the aforementioned Albion Rovers.

East Fife’s last 6 games have seen them pick up just 10 points, where despite outplaying the opposition at times, the Methil Men have been unable to capitalise. They have recorded 3 wins, 1 draw and 2 losses in recent weeks. Our wins came in emphatic fashion, most recently in a hard-fought battle against Albion Rovers. Other results have seen East Fife ease into the points with a routine win over Elgin City, during our edition of Friday Night Football some weeks ago, before the more impressive result, an 8-0 humiliation of a poor Stranraer side. The latter gave the Fifers their biggest ever win at Bayview Stadium, as well as their biggest league win since 1963. The draw came against the Champions, as we played out a 2-2 draw with the Binos, at Forthbank. This proved to be an important point enroute to Stirling Albion’s first league title since 2010/11. The defeats came last week against Dumbarton, where we missed out 1-0 in a close encounter, and also at the start of April where we fell to a last-minute goal against Annan Athletic.

Last Week

Last weekend, East Fife cemented their place in this seasons cinch League One Playoffs when they beat Albion Rovers 2-1 at MGM Timber Bayview Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Despite the Coatbridge outfit finding themselves at the foot of the table, they showed some real glimpses of quality at times, with Joe Bevan, Charlie Reilly and Euan Mutale all putting in impressive performances while leading the Albion line.

Albion started much better than East Fife and were able to penetrate the Methil defence on several occasions with their route one style of play. Allan Fleming was forced into a big save early on to deny Euan Mutale, who latched onto a through ball to go one on one with the goalkeeper.

East Fife’s build up play looked more impressive although their lack of a cutting edge in the final third cost them in the early exchanges.

The opening goal came after 35 minutes and was in favour of the away side. The ball was floated in by Luke Graham following a short corner, and Mutale leapt higher than anyone around him, from inside the six-yard box.

However, Albion Rovers’ lead did not last long however, as just nine minutes later, Jack Healy produced a potential goal of the season contender to bring in an equaliser for the Fife. He danced around two, before unleashing a magnificent long-range effort from 25 yards out, which no ‘keeper could get near.

This sent the two sides in at the interval all square.

In the second 45, East Fife were much more direct and created many more chances, deserving to go in front when they did.

With 25 minutes still on the clock, Ferguson found himself in a pocket of space and unleashed a fantastic, curled effort into the side netting from the far-right corner of the 18 yard box. His goal capped off an excellent individual performance.

With the clock running down, you could see the desperation begin to set in, as the Rovers edged even closer to dropping out of the pyramid. They began to throw everything they could at the Fifers, although the Black and Gold held on, showing their resilience.

In the dying embers, Alan Trouten sacrificed himself on the goal line, heading a shot clear, which was just as good as a goal at the other end, as shortly after, the referee blew his whistle marking full time, and East Fife a club potentially 4 games away from a return to the third tier.

The cinch League Two Table

Squad News

No fresh injuries, therefore, Greig once again has a headscratcher, as the full squad is at his disposal for Saturday!

Team Colours

East Fife are back in their home kit this week, donning the tartan shirt with black shorts and white socks. The ‘keeper will wear the all green kit for the tie. 

The hosts will be clad in their home kit too, wearing navy and sky blue for the tie, with navy shorts and sky so. The Loons Goalkeeper will be dressed in all purple for the match.

Previous Encounter

The Fifers bounced back from their blip at Stranraer last week to overcome Ray McKinnon’s strong Forfar Athletic side, scoring the winner at the death, in the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium.

It looked to be a repeat of the dismal display at Stranraer to start with, as the Fifers could not get off the blocks, going 1-0 down after 10 minutes courtesy of a Finn Robson tap-in.

This did not dishearten the Black and Gold though, and rather than going under, they bounced back with venom, with Brogan Walls rattling the post after 20 minutes of play.

Going a goal down lit a fire under East Fife, who started to dominate, and eventually got their equaliser through Brogan Walls, who fired his shot into the roof of the net from close range.

The Fifers kept pushing and should have taken the lead after 31 minutes, when there was a stramash in the box, but nobody could pull the trigger and beat the stranded ‘keeper. Trouten, Shepherd and Schiavone all had a chance, but none could tuck it away.

Half Time: East Fife 1-1 Forfar Athletic.

East Fife were rampant at the start of the second half, they never gave any space at all as they pushed for the goal to put them ahead. After lots of hard work, and good football, it eventually came in the 69th minute, through an own goal, as Kyle Hutton’s header changed the course of the ball, and it bobbled past Marc McCallum for 2-1 Fife.

The lead never lasted long though, as the Loons bounced back just 7 minutes through Stefan

McCluskey, who rolled his shot into the bottom corner after some great build up play.

East Fife fought to the whistle though, and earned their reward in the 89th minute, as captain Alan Trouten scored the winner. It was a lovely ball whipped in from Alex Ferguson, and Trouten had to leap like his namesake to fire it home. Trouten was instrumental in East Fife’s positive play during the entire match, and his goal capped off an excellent team display.

Match Tickets

It will be cash only at the turnstiles this weekend at Station Park, with seated and standing tickets available. Prices Below:

The Stand (Seated Tickets)/ Terracing (Standing Tickets):

Adults: £15/£14

65+: £9/£8

U17: £5.       

Officials

Our on-pitch official for Saturday will be Lloyd Wilson. His two assistants running the lines will be David Doig and Chris Newman.

Live Stream

Unfortunately for our British and Irish based support, the match is not able to be watched to UK blocked hours. Luckily for our International support, the game can be watched on EFTV with a monthly or season pass!

Parking

On Saturday there will be plenty of parking behind the main stand or in Auction Mart Car Park. Unfortunately, the 1984 Lounge at the ground is now only available for home supporters and officials pre-match.

Admission Prices - Play-Off Semi Final

cinch League One Play-Off Semi-Final 1^st Leg

The 1^st leg of our League One play-off semi-final will take place Tuesday 9^th May 2023 with an 8:00PM kick off when we host either Clyde or Dumbarton. Our opponents will be confirmed following this weekend’s matches.

Admission is via pay-at-the-gate and prices have been confirmed as follows:

Adults - £15

Over 65s - £10

Under 16s - £5

Season tickets are not valid for this match however reserved seating for season ticket holders will be retained.

Please note, our turnstiles are cash only however card payments can be made at reception.

As with all league matches at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium this season, all U16 members of East Fife Community Football Club and East Fife Girls & Women’s FC will be admitted free of charge with a paying adult or as part of an organised group. Eligible members should enter through the Community gate at the sea end of the stand.

If you can’t attend the match in person, a live stream will also be available worldwide via East Fife TV priced at £15. Details on how to sign up will be announced on Sunday.

The 2^nd leg is scheduled to take place on Saturday 13^th May 2023 at either New Douglas Park (Clyde) or the Dumbarton Football Stadium (Dumbarton). Admission prices for this match will be announced by the home club. Please note, should Hamilton Academical also be involved in play-off matches, Clyde’s home match will take place on Friday 12^th May 2023 due to a venue clash at New Douglas Park.