Today we go to Methil in Fife (101 miles) to face bottom of the table East Fife ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Fife_F.C. ). IRL they are currently 2nd in League One, in game they were relegated to League Two last season.
Before the game we have a few bits to go through. Our U18 won a madness of a game 6-4 v Elgin City Res, Stuart Faulds (Triallist,now left the club) with 2, Calum Adamson (Who gets the nod today instead of Healy) with 2, Jordan Orru and an O.G the scorers.
Looking at the East Fife team its really not bad. They have an interesting player, Aaron Dunsmore, who our scouts rate as their 3rd best.
He’s unhappy (And was last season as well if I remember rightly) and wants to leave. His contract is up at the end of the season (But its £180 pw so a bit steep for us) and he plays left back/wing back/midfield naturally. He also got a mention on BBC Scotland’s “View from The Terrace” this week as being the player making East Fife tick IRL. I’ll definitely be keeping an eye on him.
So we ‘re playing today in a Gale as per the weather report 🙂 thinking short passing, floated crosses, let the wind play havoc. Adamson starts as reward for his form, Campbell starts at left wing-back over McIlduff. Orru starts in place of Watt, who is taking some time bedding in. East Fife start with a 4-5-1, no sight of Dunsmore… lets go.
HT East Fife 0 Berwick 1 (McLaughlin 33)
We’re on a nice 4G surface today and in our change strip, East fife wearing a very similar amber and black stripe shirt. East Fife started the stronger with the numbers in midfield. Berwick came back into it, hitting the post from a corner (header by Adamson, corner by McLaughlin) and the crosses were starting to make inroads. The breakthrough was in the 33rd minute, a long ball up to Adamson from Sutherland, held up by him and Allan, leading to a back-post cross from Orru finding McLaughlin who finished well. 1-0 Berwick. And that’s how the half finished,. pretty dominant but wary of East Fife still.
FT East Fife 1 (Dowds 76) Berwick 2 (McLaughlin 33, Nantelamio 50) Att 486 (78 Away)
It should have been 2 in the 50th minute, a fine save from Long from Adamson. And it was 2 in the 60th minute – A Nantelamio header from a McNiff wide free-kick. Healy on for Adamson. A long ball forward by East Fife (looked a bit wind-assisted) was misjudged by McNiff, and Dowds ran in an scored to make it 2-1 in the 76th minute. And out of nowhere we were under the cosh, Berwick looking really dangerous. But we ended up sneaking it 2-1, another 3 points, I don’t care how we get ’em!
OK, still 7th, though only because 4th, 5th, 6th, us & 8th all won (top 3 and bottom 2 lost) – there is a small group playing out for 4th to 7th, and neither Albion Rovers nor Buckie Thistle seem to want to move away at the top. I think it’s going to be a tight finish with the last round of 9 games left. We are now 14 points clear of relegation, and only 6 points off 4th (2nd to 4th all go into the promotion playoffs!!!!) – I don’t think we are ready for League 1 yet, but if we get anywhere near the playoffs we’ll give them a bloody good go!
Next time we have a really tough trip to Peterhead (P8 W5 D1 L2 since their new manager came in) – We are P8 W4 D3 L1 since I took over so 16pts v 15pts – in our 3rd Away game in a row out of our string of 4 away games. Win and we definitely leap-frog them, possibly into 5th. Stirling are now 6 points behind us in 8th so there’s a little cushion if we don’t win. See you then.