Stenhousemuir -vs- East Fife (Saturday 11 March 2023)

[Francesc Fabregas]

Roll up, roll up for the fifth meeting of the season between Stenhousemuir and East Fife! What can we expect from Saturday's match at Ochilview? Will either team be able to spring a surprise? Or will be get another score draw? I don't know, but I'm excited!

I wasn't sure what to make of Stenhousemuir's performance against Annan Athletic on Saturday. There were positive elements, with some strong individual performances, but I don't think we suited the 4-4-2 system and, ultimately, we were lucky to have won the match. I don't think we can rely on the same good fortune here - we have to take the game to the Fifers, and that means reverting to the 4-2-3-1 formation that's broadly served us well since Gary Naysmith took charge. We're yet to see the best of Gavin Reilly, even if he has shown up quite well in his short spell at the club and, as good as he was at the weekend, I'd keep Ross Forbes in reserve for the time being. He seems to have found himself a niche role as a supersub and I don't see any reason to change it. Curtis Lyle needs to give himself a shake because he almost cost us at Galabank and I'd like to see a little more from the three attackers (even if they combined for our equalising goal).

How about:

- Gavin Reilly -

- Euan O'Reilly - Matty Yates - Adam Brown -

- Mikey Miller - Nat Wedderburn -

- Callum Yeats - Sean Crighton - Nicky Jamieson - Adam Corbett -

- Curtis Lyle -

I'll be disappointed if we don't win here but I'm under no illusions we're in for a tricky encounter. East Fife have given us a decent game whenever we've met them so far this season, and Saturday won't be any different. If we can get the three points, I've got a feeling we'll stay in the play-offs between now and the end of the campaign.

[Old Fashioned Stramash]

Will be interesting to see how we line up and if Naysmith sticks to 4-4-2. 

Has Forbes done enough for a recall in the first 11? 

Wanting more from O'Reilly in this game, he has the ability to open East Fife up for us.

Hoping we can get 3 points and keep the momentum going. 

[Am Featha Taigh Nan Clach]

Stenhousemuir 2-0 East Fife

Yates x 2

Reilly

[Francesc Fabregas]

13 hours ago, Old Fashioned Stramash said:

Has Forbes done enough for a recall in the first 11? 

No. Ross Forbes is not fit enough and he can't really get around the pitch - we can just about accommodate Nat Wedderburn but I don't think we can get away with the pair of them in there. He will, however, still have a role to play as an impact substitute, as we saw against Albion Rovers and Annan Athletic, where he can help us keep the ball further up the pitch. He was excellent when he came on at Galabank last weekend, operating as a weird false 9, and it was his finest performance for the Warriors.

[King Kebab]

[King Kebab]

17 hours ago, Am Featha *****h Nan Clach said:

Stenhousemuir 2-0 East Fife

Yates x 2

Reilly

 

[GoldenNuggets_YeeHaa]

Superb second half performance especially being so poor first half. The goal we conceded was the stuff of nightmares. Another masterclass from Walls, calm in possession and showed confidence with some of his play. Steele was solid again and big improvements on his forward play. Chuffed for Scotty Shepherd getting us the winner today after missing his penalty at Albion. Seems like he finally got some reward for his hard work. 

Stenny look good on the eye going forward with their wide play but lack energy in the middle of the park. They will need a new midfield if they want to challenge next season. 

Good support again today and hopefully we can continue that. Good vibes between the players and fans just now. 

 

[Taxi41]

Delighted with this. Was a wee bit worried about this game. Seems the manager of the month curse strikes again! We are grinding out results and can see positive light between us and the bottom of the table, looking at these 3rd and 4th spots now.

[Cosmic Joe]

A game of two halves. I think the wind blowing from corner to corner had an impact. 

East Fife got the ball out to wide areas after the break and had Stenhousemuir on the back foot for long spells. Alex Ferguson was once again man of the match for me. 

[Matty-RCFC]

Came along to the game today to tick Stenny off the list. The old game of two halves cliché.
 

Thought Stenny were brilliant in the first half and maybe could’ve been out of sight by half time. Nicky Jamieson was outstanding first 45, winning absolutely everything that came near him in the air. Thought Yeats and Brown were extremely dangerous too. It was genuinely one way traffic and if you’d have said to me at half time that Stenny would get beat I’d have laughed in your face.

 

However, EF came out a completely different side in the second half. I thought Alex Ferguson and Jack Healy, in particular, stood out. I thought Stenny looked shot of legs in the middle of the park after about an hour and I cannot believe that it took so long to get Ross Forbes off. Ferguson and Trouten took full advantage and it was Stenny who couldn’t get out their own half. 
 

I had Stenny on my coupon, so apologies to all concerned in the home end. EF were much improved second half, and ridiculously far improved from the 7-0 game in Dingwall earlier on this season. Best of luck to both teams in the final stretch - sure to be some final few weeks in the fourth tier.

[Old Fashioned Stramash]

Shocking in the second half, after controlling the first half but then I didn't really think we played that well.

Team sounded quiet, a lot of misplaced aimless passes and looked disjointed. Tired performance from Stenny and two goals, that were well worked by EF but should've been defended better. 

Fifers deserved the win, defended well and took away the space, whilst working the ball well. Healy is a good player, wee menace. 

Yates is more effective further up the pitch. 

Orr barely touched the ball when he came on. Didn't show for the ball or even bother to find space. When his chance came, his form showed and came off his studs. I like Orr but he seems miles away and disinterested.

Was Lyle hurt to be subbed? 

Need to keep our chins up and move onto the next game. 

When is Shepherd going to shave off that Archie McPherson do? 

[Francesc Fabregas]

That was the dictionary definition of a "game of two halves". I thought Stenhousemuir were excellent in the first 45, playing some of the best football I've seen from them this season, but they completely collapsed after the interval and were soundly beaten by East Fife in the end. I've no way to explain the capitulation - you could tell, within mere minutes of the restart, that something wasn't quite right, and the visitors took full advantage of the sudden malaise, crafting two neat goals to give them the win.

Stenny started so well too! Nicky Jamieson and Sean Crighton dominated at the back, Nat Wedderburn bulldozed anything that stood in his way in midfield, Ross Forbes and Adam Brown were spirited and looked to play Gavin Reilly in behind whenever the opportunity showed up, and Reilly himself was a nuisance throughout. Forbes especially was terrific, showcasing some lovely touches and long-range passes, and it was his quick thinking that led to the opening goal, when Matty Yates swept home his low corner kick. I was especially impressed with our high pressing and we seemed to lock East Fife into a cycle of nervous passes across their backline, forcing Allan Fleming to go long and Crighton or Jamieson inevitably winning it back and putting us on the front foot. It was relentless.

None of that was on display in the second half. The lofted balls over the top became aimless punts forward and I don't think Reilly got in behind once. East Fife dealt with everything we chucked at them with minimum fuss. Brown and Forbes tired and were unable to harry with the same intensity or contribute much when they got on the ball. The visitors seemed to target Jacob Blainey at right-back and often looked to exploit diagonals into space behind him. Jack Healy in particular gave Blainey a tough time, and the winger's effervescence led to the equaliser - he broke down the left and squared it brilliantly for Alex Ferguson to tap home from close range. East Fife's winning goal was just a shambles from the home side, with players dragged out of position before the ball was headed from the back post across the six-yard box for Scott Shepherd to finish. Shepherd had been anonymous in the first half, with Jamieson barely allowing him a kick, but he was tremendous in the second and encapsulated his team's comeback.

Gary Naysmith was apparently in the Wee Bar after the match to apologise to supporters for this afternoon's performance. His team ran out of legs and he was slow to change things to stem the tide (something you can't accuse him of in the past).  Forbes should have made way long before he did and Blainey was clearly struggling at right-back. It reminded me a bit of the dog days of Stephen Swift's reign, where a decent first-half showing was followed up by a disgrace. The result certainly opens up the race for the top four - Annan Athletic and East Fife have now moved ahead of us and we've dropped to fifth. A win today would have put us in a confident position. We haven't blown it, far from it, but we will need to see an improvement against Elgin City next weekend.

[Hard Graft]

Can only concur with the above. The change at halftime was unbelievable after the way we had played in the first half. Was worried about pace when saw both Forbes and Wedderburn were starting. Can help but think that Forbes has offered more recently when he comes of the bench as an impact player.

Blainey looked uncomfortable and an accident waiting to happen and as for Orr he has looked totally disinterested in any appearances recently.

The next three games are really going to be telling.

[sammytroot]

Stenhousemuir were well on top both in midfield and defence in the first half.For all this superiority, they were totally abject in forward positions.Fleming had no saves whatsoever to make first half.From an EF perspective, the midfield and forwards were similarly abject in the first half.Only the back 4,brilliantly marshalled by Page kept EF in the match.

Second half,midfield got into the game with the wide players starting to run at full backs.Personally I thought that EF forwards were over elaborate in the build up and on occasions should have got more shots away as opposed to a wayward pass.

Not sure what happened to Stenhousemuir,especially midfield, but their stamina levels seemed to drop drastically second half.

Say this every week but EF started with 7 players aged 21 or under and brought on 2 teenagers as second half subs.These players are a credit to the club and their families.

For me Pagey was the most consistent EF player on the day.