Bloo Toon vThe Fife

[Its not only a game]

3 hours ago, fifer67 said:

Going by the East Fife Facebook page nearly all the fans are running out of patience with the way things are going. The board have to be setting some kind of timescale on how long McDonald can be given to show improvement. Personally I’d give him the next two games against Dumbarton and Clyde and another two defeats then it’s time to go down a different road. The results are just simply not good enough 2 league wins all season tells you that. It’s a results business and Greig McDonald has been in football long enough to know that. Most clubs would have pulled the trigger last week after the shocker of a cup defeat but our board are pretty loyal. However surely they must be thinking if these  results and sub standard performances don’t change soon then a decision has to be made.

 

 

Feels like we will only make a change when we are actually bottom of the league - which may be too late .

This has been grim all season.

 

 

[Cambuslang Fifer]

3 hours ago, Its not only a game said:

Feels like we will only make a change when we are actually bottom of the league - which may be too late .

This has been grim all season.

 

 

Yeah sad fact is the board are all east fife fans contributes to this fact same applies to managers we’ve had since moving to the new stadium. Who reminds of moffat days when we were bottom and the board stuck by him and won promotion the next season in awful league. The fact is I was happy we gave him the assistant manager role but for him being a manager the last job was Stirling and that went stale didn’t it not? He’s a great guy and legend for what he contributed to east fife etc etc but we need a new directions and ideas I just don’t think he can gets us promoted like many is  hoping for.

[Specky Ginger]

14 hours ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

Took this in as trachling down the road to watch Montrose play on a council-owned "leisure facility" in Edinburgh didn't really appeal today.

For all the moaning and groaning I've seen recently about this being the worst Methilite farrago of cloggers, makeweights and never-quite-weres since the days of Jim "The Relegator" Moffat, I was expecting this to be far more comfortable for Peterhead. In fact, East Fife will have gone in at half time wondering how they were a goal behind, which was harsh on them. Then again, their flamingo-pink away top was harsh on the rest of us. It's a genuinely hideous retina-stinger of a garment, an oddball cross between at novelty 1970s bathroom mat, and the flyer for a lobster-themed happy hardcore party. Visible from Alpha Centauri without a telescope, the shirt is so luminous that it was actually reflected in the sky at sunset, three fingers of pink lingering behind the main stand at Balmoor. By then, however, the Fifers were done and dusted.

Their standout player for me was their on-loan winger Kieran Mitchell, wearing no. 16. Mitchell gave home right back Danny Strachan a torrid time in the first half, although in fairness Strachan gave as good as he got. He was not to blame for two moments of terrible carelessness at the back that a better side would have punished. First co-manager Ryan Strachan gave the ball away terribly which sent Mitchell scampering away, without result. In the second incident, Strachan had hurt himself and Mitchell got away from him. Bounding like a demented squirrel after a bouncing acorn, the wee man streaked into the box, but took too heavy a touch at precisely the wrong moment- allowing McKenzie in the home goal to gather more comfortably than he might have expected. These two incidents were the worst of a pretty flat first half from the league leaders, who seemed a yard too slow and lacking in creative ideas to break down an obdurate and well organised East Fife.

However- that moment came. Whilst East Fife passed and moved much more nicely than I'd been expecting, Peterhead can mix things up between patient build up and the long ball. A blooter from McKenzie found McAliister whose finely judged ball sent Shanks bursting clear of his opponent. Keeping half a yard ahead of the visiting defence, from about fifteen yards, just to the left of the penalty spot, he fired a powerful shot across Fleming and into the bottom right hand corner. 1-0.

Peterhead came out of what was no doubt a tetchy and shouty half-time de-brief and quickly imposed themselves on what was to prove a much more comfortable second half. Connor O'Keefe came into his own here. He's a fine player, really quick down the Peterhead left and must be a nightmare to play against when coming at you at full pelt. He'll either leave you flailing as he passes you in a streak of blue or, if you touch him, he'll crash to the ground and take a free kick. McAliister and Shanks might get the headlines but for me he's easily Peterhead's most dangerous player. On two or three occasions in the second half he simply left the East Fife defence for dead, or got clogged.

If McKenzie, making a few smart saves, was the busier of the keepers in the first half, he was a virtual spectator after the break as the ageing Allan Fleming found himself beseiged. Fleming made a few good stops and indulged in a bit of trademark cross-flapping but was finally beaten- and the game finished- when one of young substitute Ward's runs finally paid off. His deep cross from the left found Jordan Brown whose first effort was blocked by Fleming- the rebound was turned past the keeper who at that stage was collapsing, wrong footed, on the goal-line, like a Primark card table.

By then Peterhead were ringing the changes and bringing on youngsters as East Fife struggled to make an impact. The old cliché is that if you grind out the win whilst not playing very well you're likely to have a good season. On this evidence Peterhead will take a bit of shifting. Ryan Strachan and Jordon Brown, Buchan's Alan Curbishley & Steve Gritt, will hope for much more of the second half performance today, than the first half, in the weeks ahead. Peterhead started the game sluggish and complacent and were lucky that the opponent was a team low in confidence and missing many key players. If they start like that in the forthcoming fixtures against Dumbarton and Stenny then they'll pay a heavy price.

As for East Fife, I can see why the fans are frustrated. For this neutral your team looked much better than I'd been expecting. Fleming can still do a turn at this level although I'm guessing this will be his last senior season; the makeshift defence looked okay; Trouten is slowing down but can still dictate a game if the mood takes him (he faded in influence as he got frustrated in the second half); Mitchell is a handful, but is hampered by the lack of any genuine striking options. Not much point creating chances if there's nobody there to put them away. However, this is a team that could finish anywhere between 4th and 8th but genuinely don't think East Fife need fear the drop this season.

Not a bad game all told.

 

Brilliant .

No wonder newspapers are dying when you can read a report like this for free on Pie and Bovril.

[strichener]

57 minutes ago, Specky Ginger said:

Brilliant .

No wonder newspapers are dying when you can read a report like this for free on Pie and Bovril.

I second this, it is always good to have the viewpoint of a neutral.  Excellent report once again @Ivo den Bieman.

 

11 hours ago, Its not only a game said:

Feels like we will only make a change when we are actually bottom of the league

You aren't going to be bottom of the league.  With a little more luck you could have been 2 up by half time instead of one down.  There have been far worse teams at Balmoor this season (including Peterhead on occasion)

Edited November 5, 2023 by strichener

[Ivo den Bieman]

22 hours ago, doulikefish said:

Really good report but special mention to Andy McCarthy who got his shoulder popped back in after about 2 mins and played on until subbed in the 2nd half 

Thanks for explaining that, I was standing on the opposite side of the park so other than registering the long stoppage couldn’t really see what was happening. I did think McCarthy quiet by his normal standards, that would explain it…fair play to him for carrying on.

21 hours ago, Beachcomber said:

You've got a short memory

Come on now, our top was more diluted pomegranate juice or a fading old snooker ball compared to the Fifers’ marine distress flare. Your top is ‘shocking’ in every sense!

Thanks for kind comments about my report. One year I’ll do a book covering a game from all 42 league grounds but just don’t have time presently.

Edited November 5, 2023 by Ivo den Bieman

[O'Kelly Isley III]

17 hours ago, Ivo den Bieman said:

Thanks for explaining that, I was standing on the opposite side of the park so other than registering the long stoppage couldn’t really see what was happening. I did think McCarthy quiet by his normal standards, that would explain it…fair play to him for carrying on.

Come on now, our top was more diluted pomegranate juice or a fading old snooker ball compared to the Fifers’ marine distress flare. Your top is ‘shocking’ in every sense!

Thanks for kind comments about my report. One year I’ll do a book covering a game from all 42 league grounds but just don’t have time presently.

How does this rate on the Pink-O-Meter ?  We're well known for raiding the Liquorice Allsorts box.

[Ivo den Bieman]

27 minutes ago, O'Kelly Isley III said:

How does this rate on the Pink-O-Meter ?  We're well known for raiding the Liquorice Allsorts box.

This one looks more like a Stabilo Boss fluorescent marker, a limited edition Turkish Delight, or a ham-fistedly discreet business card for a "gentlemans' club".

Still somehwat less saturated that the Fife genetically modified crustacean.