Arbroath 2 East Fife 1 Scottish League One, Gayfield Park Saturday 8th March 2014 Match Report by Liam Thomson East Fife find themselves in a disappointing position after losing at Gayfield to fellow strugglers Arbroath. The gap between the sides has now been closed to just a single point as the Angus club seek to try and overtake the Fifers in the race to avoid the drop. The windy conditions meant that both sides struggled to play good football, but the home team seemed to adapt better managing to score a goal in each half. East Fife found it difficult to find fluency or rhythm to their play, and certainly Gary Naysmith will have been particularly disappointed with the team’s second half showing when they had the wind behind them. Perhaps the long trip midweek to Stranraer was a factor in this lethargic display but the team will know they will need to play better if they are to secure League One football again for next season. Two changes were made to the starting line which lost 2-0 at Stair Park on Tuesday with Craig Johnstone and youngster Lewis Barr coming into the team. Steven Campbell and Stephen O’Neil dropped to the bench. With the wind advantage in the first half Arbroath peppered the East Fife goal with a number of long range attempts. The best shot came in the 14th minute when Kevin Nicoll had a crack from all of thirty yards out which just drifted narrowly past the left hand post. The away side opened the scoring in the 17th minute when Liam Buchanan drilled a dangerous ball into the area from the left which Arbroath player Alex Keddie deflected past his own goalkeeper much to the anguish of his team mates. East Fife’s lead unfortunately only lasted for five minutes as the Red Lichties drew level when the visitors failed to deal with a corner from the right fired in by Alan Cook and Michael Travis drove the ball home. A mistake from Joe Mbu almost let in Bobby Linn to score but fortunately Greg Paterson managed to block the ball. Stephen Hughes had an effort at goal five minutes before the break from the edge of the box but it went well over the bar. The Smokies almost went ahead early on in the second period when a McManus effort, following a defensive mix up, had to be cleared off the line by Rutkiewicz. Scott Durie had a header a goal from a McKenzie cross but his attempt was comfortably saved by Arbroath keeper Sandy Wood. Paterson was called into action twice in quick succession as he pulled off a couple of good stops to deny the home team. With little over ten minutes remaining former East Fife player Paul McManus sealed the victory for Arbroath slotting the ball from the centre of the box into the bottom right corner following a low cross from Colin Hamilton. In stoppage time Liam Buchanan tried to snatch a dramatic equaliser for his side with a decent attempt from outside the box but Wood pulled off the save. Arbroath: Wood, Little, Hamilton, Nicoll, Travis, Keddie, Linn (Robertson 80), Banjo, McManus (McWalter 90), Cook, Sheerin Subs not used: Morrison (GK), Deuchar, Lindsay, Yao, Smith East Fife: Paterson, Cowan (Clarke 87), Durie, Rutkiewicz, Mbu, Johnstone, McKenzie (Austin 74), Hughes, Buchanan, Smith, Barr (R Stewart 67) Subs not used: Shaw (GK), Thom, O’Neil, Campbell Referee: Don Robertson Attendance: 679
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 09:41:14 +0000
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