East Fife v Stenhousemuir FC

Irn Bru Scottish League Second Division                       Att 509

 

East Fife 2 [Conway 58, McManus 67]

Stenhousemuir 1 [Molloy 90]

 

 

It is safe to say that the honeymoon period for the Warriors in the Second Division is well and truly over as they slumped to their fifth league defeat in a row. The sequence has seen them drop to the bottom of the table and their six game unbeaten start to the season now seems a distant memory.

 

With Stephen Thomson still missing this time through injury trialist Alan Reid played his second game for the Warriors this season as John Coughlin started with the same starting eleven that played with promise against Stirling Albion the previous week.

 

The game started well for the Warriors and only a timely interception of an Iain Diack cross in the fifth minute prevented a goal scoring opportunity. This was followed minutes later by a Reid effort that was comfortably saved by Stuart Baillie. The home side at this stage were mainly contained in their own half but showed their threat when the experienced combination of Paul McManus and Stevie Crawford linked up to get behind the Stenhousemuir defence and only the alertness of Chris McCluskey who dived at Crawford’s feet prevented East Fife taking the lead. Stenhousemuir went back up the field and Robert Love volleyed just wide from an acute angle. The game was fairly open at this stage and the home side once again got behind the Stenhousemuir defence in the 16^th minute and it took a last ditch tackle by Gary Thom then a block to keep the scores level. A shot by Bobby Linn was saved by McCluskey but after this frenetic spell the game settled down.

 

It was the 35^th minute before either keeper was really tested again, this time it was Baillie called into action to deny Kevin Motion pushing away his header from an Iain Thomson freekick. Just before the interval East Fife came close when a Aaron Conway corner was headed over from close range by David Muir.

 

After a close first half the Warriors were on the back foot almost immediately after the resumption and McCluskey was called into action within a couple of minutes of the restart to deny McManus. This was followed by a Muir header over the bar. With Stenhousemuir struggling to relieve the pressure for any length of time it came as no surprise when East Fife took the lead in the 58^th minute. A sloppy clearance landed at McManus and after combining with Linn the ball was transferred out to Conway on the left and with time and space drilled the ball into the net for his first ever goal for the Fifers.

 

Stenhousemuir to their credit responded positively and looked to have equalised when an Iain Diack header seemed goal bound but somehow ex-Stenhousemuir trialist Baillie managed to bring off a top class one handed save. The keeper turned goalmaker in the 67^th minute when a kick out was picked up by McManus in space and he converted to put the Fifers two up after only 67 minutes.

 

This proved to be a decisive goal as Stenhousemuir rarely got going after this blow and the home side looked to be the more likely team to score and extend their lead. With the game into the 90^th minute Craig Molloy steered the ball into the net after being played through by Kevin Bradley. Unfortunately Molloy was not on the pitch for much longer as within seconds of the restart he was caught by a dangerous tackle by Shaun Fagan and played no further part in proceedings. Fagan was sent off for the challenge and exacerbated the situation by throwing a punch at a Stenhousemuir player who had confronted him about the challenge and was later shown a second red card.

 

This however was of little consequence to Stenhousemuir as there was only seconds remaining and they were unable to take advantage before the whistle blew.   

 

East Fife – Baillie, Nugent [Fagan 79][so90], Ovenstone, McCunnie, Smart [b65], Kerr, Linn, Crawford [Cargill 86], McManus, Muir and Conway [Young 70].

Subs not used – Staunton and McLaren

 

Stenhousemuir – McCluskey, Lyle, Reid [t], Thom [b87], Smith, Molloy, Love, Scullion [Bradley 73], Diack [Dalziel 73], I.Thomson and Motion.

Subs not used –Stirling, McLeod and Bennett

 

Referee – Anthony Law                       

Assistants – Neil McLennan and Colin Duncan