[Gordon EF]

This one's become a big game due to recent results. Arbroath have picked up quite a bit recently, we've been very up and down, Peterhead and Dumbarton have been on a poor run of form so it's looks like it could be a 4-way fight between these teams to avoid the play-off spot.

Ou line-up should be interesting and Crawford has a few tough decisions to make. We were missing Smart and McManus but played one of our best game of the season against Peterhead. Do we change things to bring them back in or keep things as they are? I'd be tempted to leave McManus on the bench but bring Smart in to replace Nugent at centre back. Apparently he played really well there on Saturday but Arbroath should be tougher, physically as much as anything else, so we should benefot from having Smarty back.

I'm sure Arbroath will see this as the perfect time to reverse their awful recent record against us but it's vital that we don't los this one. Another performance like Saturday will do.

[lichtie23]

It's a must win for us.......simple as that.

Hopefully no change from Saturdays starting eleven.

[Mon_The_Fife]

Really big game, and a great chance to open up a 6 point gap over our Smokie neebors.

With McManus and Smarty back, Crawford has a hard decision to make. We played really well on Saturday so I would be reluctant to change the system and team, and would be good to know that we have McManus on the bench and can use him if things aren't working. Nugent had a really good game at centre half alongside Div, but I think Smarty is a better defender than Nugget and might be back in the team. No word as yet on Michael Brown so Baillie might get his first start after his injury setback.

Atleast we now have a bit of competition for places at long last.

Baillie
Lowing Smart Muir Ovenstone
Linn McCunnie Murdoch Cargill
Young
Crawford

[lichtie36nilhello]

lichtie23, on 14 March 2010 - 22:50, said:

It's a must win for us.......simple as that.

Hopefully no change from Saturdays starting eleven.

Like he said. Time to end this awful run against East Fife. C'mon Arbroath

[Ladyfan]

I'm going to call dibs on who gets to attend this one!!

If you're reading this Mr Ladyfan, you're looking after the rugrats. I got in there first!!!

[Mon_The_Fife]

Ladyfan, on 15 March 2010 - 10:16, said:

I'm going to call dibs on who gets to attend this one!!

If you're reading this Mr Ladyfan, you're looking after the rugrats. I got in there first!!!

Dibs on his season ticket book then! Yeeha!

[Ladyfan]

Mon_The_Fife, on 15 March 2010 - 13:07, said:

Dibs on his season ticket book then! Yeeha!

Ok. You do deserve it purely because your comments during the game on Saturday added to the entertainment that wsa on the park.

[lichtie23]

What's the prices at bayview?

Is there a student gate

[Mon_The_Fife]

lichtie23, on 16 March 2010 - 10:45, said:

What's the prices at bayview?

It's £10 adults and £5 concessions in the main stand. £14 in the north, west and south stands. £16 for upper tier in all 3.

Is there a student gate

Nein.

[The Minertaur]

East Fife 0 - 1 Arbroath after 6 minutes. Just realised there are 3 huge games in Fife tonight!

EDIT: 1-1 now. McCunnie equalises.

DOUBLE EDIT: 2-1 to East Fife - Murdoch with the goal.

This post has been edited by The Minertaur: 16 March 2010 - 21:20

[faither]

The Minertaur, on 16 March 2010 - 19:56, said:

East Fife 0 - 1 Arbroath after 6 minutes. Just realised there are 3 huge games in Fife tonight!

EDIT: 1-1 now. McCunnie equalises.

DOUBLE EDIT: 2-1 to East Fife - Murdoch with the goal.

Yes! Finished 3-1 and that's two really good East Fife performances within 4 days.

Is the Craw's work finally paying off?

[the_russian]

We own those smokie fuckwits

[Mon_The_Fife]

Get it right up ye you bunch of hammer throwing thugs. A better referee would have booked the majority of your team.

Only 1 team played football and it wasn't the fishmongers. Apart from Hislop's goal I can't remember Michael Brown actually making a save. We dominated from start to finish with Bobby Linn having another excellent game and Murdoch's goal probably the pick of the punch. Good to have McCunnie score his 1st and 2nd goals for East Fife too.

McLaughlan was absolute mince at Stranraer and hasn't improved a real bomb scare of a defender, anyway absolutley delighted with the 3 points. Was it ever in any doubt? Afterall we own Arbroath.

Well done Craw and the lads. 6 points clear and counting...

Edit - I just remembered Phil Mcguire was playing. Some player he is.

This post has been edited by Mon_The_Fife: 16 March 2010 - 22:08

[Lichtielegend]

Mon_The_Fife, on 16 March 2010 - 22:06, said:

Get it right up ye you bunch of hammer throwing thugs. A better referee would have booked the majority of your team.

Only 1 team played football and it wasn't the fishmongers. Apart from Hislop's goal I can't remember Michael Brown actually making a save. We dominated from start to finish with Bobby Linn having another excellent game and Murdoch's goal probably the pick of the punch. Good to have McCunnie score his 1st and 2nd goals for East Fife too.

Wrong, you dominated for the last 80 mins of the game when we inexplicably sat back and let you play. We were playing with a back 8 at times ffs. That was worse than Cowden last week.

Northcroft is the worst referee in Scottish Football. Totally unable to make a decision.

[Ladyfan]

faither, on 16 March 2010 - 21:50, said:

Yes! Finished 3-1 and that's two really good East Fife performances within 4 days.

Is the Craw's work finally paying off?

It sure is Faither. When we went 1 down, my prediction was that we'd equalise quickly then hammer them. We didn't hammer them, that seemed to be their job but we played some fantastic football that the Smokies had no answer to.

A fantastic shift put in by every player. Even the crapness of the referee can't spoil this one.

[WHM]

A well deserved win for East Fife,dominated for long spells,and it could have been more if it wasn't for Darren Hill,Arbroath had a shocker along with the ref,who i hope we never see again.

Here's Hislop's goal.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=sabJVsMHqsc

[smokiejoe]

I've received news from 2 different and distinct sources that Weir is no longer manager of Arbroath F.C.

Hardly surprising if true. He's overseen our 3 worst performances in the last 10 years in his short tenure.

[SimonLichtie]

smokiejoe, on 16 March 2010 - 23:29, said:

I've received news from 2 different and distinct sources that Weir is no longer manager of Arbroath F.C.

Hardly surprising if true. He's overseen our 3 worst performances in the last 10 years in his short tenure.

[Gordon EF]

An utterly deserved 3 points. Arbroath got the goal very early before the game had really settled but from that point onwards it was all East Fife. We played some excellent football, with Stevie Crawford playing the loan striker role and having, probably his best game for East Fife. He's not a midfielder and he doesn't have the legs to run at defenders, but playing as our furthest forward players and holding the ball and laying it off for attacking players coming from deeper, his quality really shines through. This is how he needs to play all the time.

All 3 goals were peaches, especially Murdoch's. I really wish we had highlights as all our gosla were so well worked.

Great to see Peterhead get beat too. I wasn't at the Peterhead game but apparently they were even worse than Arbroath were tonight and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Arbroath catch them still. I think their tactics of getting bodies back and looking to break quickly using Hislop will work enough times in this league to catch Peterhead if they continue the way they are.

There really wasn't a failure for us tonight but the stand-outs for me were Stewart Murdch, Bobby Linn and Stevie Crawford. Excellent performances.

[King Kebab]

f**k we were good tonight!!!

If only crawford hadn't taken 3/4 of the season to realise he should be playing up front!!!

The referee was an absolute joke, if he was any good we would have scored 6 or 7, but only because a decent ref would have sent off at least 3 or 4 of them Smokie fuckwits. Wier obviously told his players to get into a battle, but football won in the end I'm glad to say!!!

Just as a purely sporting observation, who was the Arbroath physio in tonights fixture, was it Leona or Catriona, 'cos she would get it btw!!!

[LiamA]

Have to say I was really woriied about how Div Muir & Nugget would handle Hislop but both were absolutely superb!
The most pleasing thing was that even after losing the early goal we just kept passing the ball around then eventually took total control of the game.
The build up to all three goals was fantastic and Jamie McCunnie was the best player on the park by a country mile just as imo he was in the Clyde & Peterhead games.
I had a lot of time for Keith Gibson when he played at Bayview but he really has turned into a bad loser, straight off the park without shaking anyone's hand last night just as he has done every other time his side gets humped at Bayview!

[lichtie23]

Weir is a fucking moron.

First 10 minutes we were on top and deservadly took the lead.......surely we would continue that style? No not according to Weir. The muppet decides to try and defend tge lead for 80 fuckin minutes.

Ross and Hislop both limping off leaves us with no fit strikers for Saturday.

Not looking good

[mo83]

easy money £10 double the mo and the fifers get in their.well done the fifers get that shower of shite down in the 3rd were they belong

[Gordon EF]

Do Arbroath fans just accept defeat to East fife now in the same way they accept day turning to night or the changing of the seasons?

[Lichtielegend]

Gordon EF, on 17 March 2010 - 00:38, said:

Great to see Peterhead get beat too. I wasn't at the Peterhead game but apparently they were even worse than Arbroath were tonight and I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Arbroath catch them still. I think their tactics of getting bodies back and looking to break quickly using Hislop will work enough times in this league to catch Peterhead if they continue the way they are.

I don't, for a number of reasons.

Firstly, Hislop's touch is inconsistent from one game to the next. Against Brechin it was good and we were able to work on the break. Last night and against Cowden last week it was poor and it inhibited our attack rather than catalysing it. Wardlaw and Crawford (who was pretty much spot on in that role last night) really showed him up for that.

Secondly, we don't have the pace in our team to support the target man to any great extent. Doris is good at running with the ball but I'm not sure he's fast enough to beat anyone in a foot race. Robbie Ross isn't quick and none of our midfielders are either.

Thirdly, we don't have a defender or midfielder capable of moving the ball both quickly and accurately. Gibson has been really shown up now Sellars has left, Redman can play good short, subtle passes but not the kind required for a break while McLean is rarely able to get on the ball quick enough for a break.

Finally, when we play so deep, our players have so much ground to make up for a break that, our lack of pace and the lack of a guarantee that it'll stick to the target man means that even if an early pass is made and is accurate, the chance will be gone before it's barely started. After 3 or 4 attempted breaks fail, the midfield hardly even break forward as they know it'll just come back.

I think if we played a pressing game higher up the park, many of these issues would be solved and it would also reduce the issue of giving opponents easy possession in the middle third.