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East Fife v Raith Rovers (28th Dec 2019)


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Bene and Davidson have benefitted greatly from Anderson being here, they are better players than they were 2 months ago. 

The injury situation is not ideal at all, but I don't think this is the gimme some are making it out to be.  If we play like we did first half on Sat I think we will win the game, regardless of the defence. Big, big If though. 

 

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As confident as I am about our chances of a win away from home at the San Starko, cautious optimism comes to mind after the last two second half perfomances at home. Not writing the Rovers off entirely but not writing off a win for the black and gold either.
Saying that, still undefeated, a clean sheet last week and in a great position to go back on top makes for an exciting game on Saturday.

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2 minutes ago, Paco said:

We can’t put Gullan and Armstrong in front of the full backs, with Hendry/Spencer in the middle, and not expect to be overrun.

Unfortunately we have very, very little option.

Put Tait in besides Hendry and Spencer for a proper midfield 3, or put Mckay (if fit) in besides Bene and Davo. That's about the only thing we can do to shore the middle up in the absence of Steven Anderson and Ross Matthews. Go with Gullan and Bowie either side of Baird - Bowie isn't an impact sub type of player at the moment (not quite the maturity or finished article to be used like that) his assets are in his shear ability to keep going, . Gives us Armstrong and Dingwall on the bench when we need to change it.

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Put Tait in besides Hendry and Spencer for a proper midfield 3, or put Mckay (if fit) in besides Bene and Davo. That's about the only thing we can do to shore the middle up in the absence of Steven Anderson and Ross Matthews. Go with Gullan and Bowie either side of Baird - Bowie isn't an impact sub type of player at the moment (not quite the maturity or finished article to be used like that) his assets are in his shear ability to keep going, . Gives us Armstrong and Dingwall on the bench when we need to change it.


I’ve not really seen enough of Tait to make any real decision either way. Big game to launch him into though. McKay as you say might be injured. The only other option for a back five is Jamie Watson in from nowhere to RWB and Miller moving across. This is all assuming Benedictus is actually fit... I could be very wrong but I don’t think he’d have been in the squad on Saturday if McKay was available.

I’d be giving consideration to a midfield three of Hendry/Spencer/Gullan and telling Spencer he’s getting shot if he gets caught up the park.

Looking at the injury list, based on everything we know the closest to actually being back on the park is probably... Robbie Thomson. A third goalie. That’ll help.
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9 minutes ago, Paco said:

 


I’ve not really seen enough of Tait to make any real decision either way. Big game to launch him into though. McKay as you say might be injured. The only other option for a back five is Jamie Watson in from nowhere to RWB and Miller moving across. This is all assuming Benedictus is actually fit... I could be very wrong but I don’t think he’d have been in the squad on Saturday if McKay was available.

I’d be giving consideration to a midfield three of Hendry/Spencer/Gullan and telling Spencer he’s getting shot if he gets caught up the park.

Looking at the injury list, based on everything we know the closest to actually being back on the park is probably... Robbie Thomson. A third goalie. That’ll help.

 

I've not seen a huge amount of Tait, but he looked competent and confident enough when I did. I have zero confidence in Jamie Watson, and whatever issues McGlynn has with Mckay, he'd still rather play him than Watson out at RWB, so reckon that'd be a fairly last ditch solution.

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12 minutes ago, Paco said:

 


I’ve not really seen enough of Tait to make any real decision either way. Big game to launch him into though. McKay as you say might be injured. The only other option for a back five is Jamie Watson in from nowhere to RWB and Miller moving across. This is all assuming Benedictus is actually fit... I could be very wrong but I don’t think he’d have been in the squad on Saturday if McKay was available.

I’d be giving consideration to a midfield three of Hendry/Spencer/Gullan and telling Spencer he’s getting shot if he gets caught up the park.

Looking at the injury list, based on everything we know the closest to actually being back on the park is probably... Robbie Thomson. A third goalie. That’ll help.

 

McGlynn put Bene on as a tactical change before Anderson got sent off. Have to assume he's fit. 

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Grant Anderson won't be out for long and was Matthew's not supposed to be out for 6-8 weeks that was about 7 weeks ago so won't be long.

Ross Matthews said at the Glenavon game that he was hoping to be back for the game vs East Fife.
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3 hours ago, rob71 said:

As confident as I am about our chances of a win away from home at the San Starko, cautious optimism comes to mind after the last two second half perfomances at home. Not writing the Rovers off entirely but not writing off a win for the black and gold either.
Saying that, still undefeated, a clean sheet last week and in a great position to go back on top makes for an exciting game on Saturday.

True. Rovers are on 20 points the same as us. Anderson will be a miss for them. But they've managed to be top of the league without Vaughan for almost the whole of the season so far. As many injuries as they have, they do have decent back ups for the other missing players. There'll be no duds on the park for either team on Saturday.

I think both teams can point to halves or full games and say 'play like that and we'll win' or 'play like that and we'll lose'. The reality is that there's little to pick between the sides so far and this game can easily go in any direction. It's certainly the biggest derby between the teams in a long time and hopefully we get two more equally as important before the season's over.

Our attitude should absolutely be that we know Raith are dangerous opponents but we've beaten them at Stark's Park before and we can go and do it again.

 

Edited by Gordon EF
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Can't make it across due to other commitments but I'm managing to squeeze in a mussy athletic game with an earlier kick off instead. The last time I done that was the dunfermline game, so here's hoping its a good omen again.

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5 hours ago, renton said:

Put Tait in besides Hendry and Spencer for a proper midfield 3, or put Mckay (if fit) in besides Bene and Davo. That's about the only thing we can do to shore the middle up in the absence of Steven Anderson and Ross Matthews. Go with Gullan and Bowie either side of Baird - Bowie isn't an impact sub type of player at the moment (not quite the maturity or finished article to be used like that) his assets are in his shear ability to keep going, . Gives us Armstrong and Dingwall on the bench when we need to change it.

Go batshit crazy with Miller, Bene, Davo, McKay and MacDonald across the back...Spencer and Hendry, with Tait pushing forward...Baird and Bowie up top?

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I agree with frank in that Bene and Davo should be experienced enough (if fully fit) to cope in the middle, yes SAndo will be a miss but I'm thinking our defence will have learned and gained confidence from him since he came in. While the rest of the injuries are slightly worrying hopefully some of the younger players will get their chance, and let the fearlessness of youth shine through. Not overly confident, that said the fine run East Fife have been on will end at some point, here's hoping it's on Saturday.

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I know I've only actually seen him a couple of times, but seeing the discussions above about Armstrong being benched seem utterly mental, he was the best player on the park each time I've seen him. These weans from your youth team must be something else. 

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12 minutes ago, Big Fifer said:

I know I've only actually seen him a couple of times, but seeing the discussions above about Armstrong being benched seem utterly mental, he was the best player on the park each time I've seen him. These weans from your youth team must be something else. 

Armstrong didn't look fully fit on Sat tbh.

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