East Fife 0-2 – Match Report by Oli Anderson
🏆Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup R3
📍MGM Timber Bayview Stadium
🗓️Saturday 22nd November | Kick-off: 3:00pm
East Fife slumped out of the Scottish Gas Men’s Scottish Cup at the first hurdle, as Championship opposition Arbroath eased through 2-0 in the third round at the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium.
The game started in dismal fashion for the Fifers as Arbroath opened the scoring inside the first ten minutes. It was all too easy for the Lichties, as Marshall found space at the back post. His sliding effort beat a stranded Rollo, and the second-tier side took their early lead.
East Fife had a couple of chances in the first half, with Sam Culbert trying his luck from range, and Michael McKenna coming close too. However, the sucker punch came right before half time, when Reilly handed Arbroath a two-goal cushion. The Lichties capitalised on a long throw, and it was all too easy for them if truth be told.
As was the case in the first half, Arbroath largely controlled proceedings after the break, with East Fife struggling to break down the strong opposition. With ten minutes to go East Fife had their best chance of the second half when Andy Munro got on the end of an East Fife long throw and flicked his header goalward, however it was straight at the Arbroath goalkeeper.
After the game, East Fife manager Dick Campbell gave an honest account of the contest: “There’s no doubt in my mind that Arbroath deserved to win the game, their goalkeeper has not had a save to make. The goals we conceded were amateur-ish. The second half was a lot better. We didn’t hurt them enough and Arbroath are thoroughly deserving of making it into the next round.”
Michael McKenna also gave his thoughts after the game expressing disappointment at the end result. He opened his interview with an apology to fans: “At home I didn’t see that coming today. They [Arbroath] deserved it fully, but did we compete enough? I’m not sure.”
He then touched on next Saturday’s postponement against Inverness Caley Thistle: “It may not be a bad thing. We have a lot of players who are on the cusp of returning so it gives all of them some extra time to get us closer to full strength. We don’t have a big squad, and we need everyone back if we are going to compete in League 1. It will hurt us tonight and tomorrow, but we have to put it behind us and concentrate on Elgin City next Tuesday.”
East Fife – Rollo, Peggie, Easton, Munro. Bah, McManus (Slattery 93’), Millar (Nicol 78’), Culbert (Newton 71’), McKenna, Latona, Trouten (Austin 78’). Subs not used: Bell, Fairley, Linton, Thomson, Wilson.
Arbroath – McAdams, Wilkie, Kabongolo, O’Brien, Watson, Cochrane, Gold (Flynn 63’), MacIntyre (Enem 88’), Marshall, Dow, Reilly (Todorov 71’). Subs not usedL Mebude, Hamilton, Muirhead, Pettifer, Pettigrew.
Referee – Graham Grainger
Attendance – 1025 (431 away fans)
