retired_destiny1124

13.12.06
Albion Rovers (1) East Fife (1) Scottish Cup 2nd Round Replay- Albion advances on Penalties
Albion- Gareth Murray 73-P
East Fife- Paul Hampshire 68
MOM- Sami El-Abd, East Fife

Grayling sighed tiredly, "Another wasted effort. We play well for most of the match- but then make a huge defensive mistake that ultimately costs us."

Gemmell nodded agreement, "I really thought we were going to win when we got the lead on Hampshire's free kick."

"Instead our whole backline gets caught up and Chibuzor Chilaka comes back to make a terrible challenge in our area and they score the equalizer on the penalty."

"If Gavin Holligan can score on *any* of his several excellent chances- we don't have to worry about it- but he failed to finish well."

retired_destiny1124

16.12.06
East Fife (4) Dumbarton (1)
East Fife- Stevie Nicholas 8 Craig O'Reilly 13,69 Paul Walker 19
Dumbarton- Liam Kelly 42-P
MOM- Craig O'Reilly, East Fife

"Much better," said a relieved Grayling. "We showed almost everything I wanted to see today."

"It was a dominant performance- very convincing win for us," agreed Gemmell.

"Great work by Craig O'Reilly and Stevie Nicholas today- they certainly keyed the win."

***

21.12.06

"That's not good news," sighed Grayling.

"Craig (Farr) will be out a couple weeks- at least the best guess- because of the strained wrist," stated Gemmell.

"I guess John Dodds gets the job back by default."

retired_destiny1124

23.12.06
East Fife (3) East Stirling (1)
East Fife- Craig O'Reilly 25,45,65
East Stirling- Andy Morrow 63
MOM- Craig O'Reilly, East Fife

"Craig O'Reilly was just brilliant today, but that injury..." sighed Grayling.

"Well, it looked worse than it was- just a gashed leg- but he will be out for at least a couple weeks," commented Gemmell.

"Overall, we played better defensively. I thought John Dodds should have stopped Andy Morrow on his goal."

"It was a bit weak. John did make a couple timely saves though."

retired_destiny1124

26.12.06
East Fife (5) Elgin (0)
East Fife- Ian Tilson 7,85 Graham Gibson 20,31 Paul Hampshire 30
Elgin- None
MOM- Ian Tilson, East Fife

"Brilliant effort by the boys. One of our best efforts of the season," beamed Grayling.

"We didn't make any mistakes, but this was the last place club- so I wouldn't get too carried away," replied Gemmell.

"I am not, especially in light of Paul Walker's injury."

"How bad?" asked Gemmell grimly.

"Bad. He tore his calf muscle and may be out the rest of this season."

"Ouch. Paul was brilliant and we will really miss his leadership."

"It will hurt us a lot. Still, we at least have solid cover in John Martin."

"Yes, it would be even worse if we didn't have quality fill-ins."

retired_destiny1124

30.12.06
Montrose (2) East Fife (1)
Montrose- Daniel Talbot 56 John Adam 82
East Fife- Graham Gibson 1
MOM- Jim Weir, Montrose

"That was a match we should have at least split the points in," grumbled Grayling.

"We made some costly mistakes," agreed Gemmell.

"John Dodds continues to disappoint me, but Chibuzor Chilaka also didn't do the job today. There is no way we should be giving up 2 goals from beyond 25 yards."

"It was a bit frustrating to see Chilaka miss heading the free kick away and then Dodds just plain miss Adam's shot."

"I had been considering a new contract offer to Chilaka- it isn't going to happen."

***

1.1.07
Scottish Third Division Table- 20 matches played
<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre">1- Queen's Park 38 pts (+4) 2- East Fife 36 pts (+22)3- Berwick 34 pts (+7)4- Montrose 34 pts (+2)5- East Stirling 30 pts (+10)6- Albion Rovers 30 pts (+6)</pre>

retired_destiny1124

1.1.07

"I transfer listed Chibuzor Chilaka today. The last straw was when he started complaining about Paul Doyle's contract," fumed Grayling.

"Oh, I bet that went over well," smirked Gemmell.

"I was mad. I told him he hadn't done anything to earn his own contract lately- let alone an increase. It got worse from there..."

"Reserves?"

"Yes. I did decide to bring up Lloyd Young to the Senior side- I need him at right wing with Martin."

"Shouldn't be a problem."

"In a bit better news- Iain Vigurs was named Young Player of the Month for December."

"That was an honor well earned."

***

6.1.07
East Fife (3) Arbroath (3)
East Fife- Graham Gibson 24,44 John Sutton 42
Arbroath- George Snee 10 David Whittle 46,55
MOM- Graham Gibson, East Fife

"I can't believe we gave them back a draw," steamed Grayling. "A 3-1 halftime lead and we give it back to them!"

"It wasn't our finest hour," sighed Gemmell.

"How many times are our backline players- despite our emphasizing not to do this- going to make weak headers into the center of the pitch. It cost us two goals the same way today- Snee's and Whittle's 1st."

"They are not using good judgement, that is certain. That last goal was bad too- to give up a goal on a corner like that is very frustrating."

"Graham Gibson played great though- otherwise this would have been a loss."

retired_destiny1124

13.1.07
Albion Rovers (1) East Fife (2)
Albion- Mark Stewart 90
East Fife- Stevie Nicholas 46 Graham Gibson 52
MOM- Stevie Nicholas, East Fife

"We do manage to make things interesting," stated Grayling dryly.

Gemmell laughed, "Well, at least we were on the right end of the score when the final whistle sounded."

"With how well we started in the second half, I thought we might blow them out."

"If Danny Black converts that penalty kick, we might well have. When it was saved it gave them a big boost."

"I thought Craig Farr played well- even if they did get the goal to ruin the clean sheet."

"He was solid, and that is all I really am hoping for from him."

retired_destiny1124

20.1.07
East Fife (3) Queen's Park (2)
East Fife- Danny Black 12-P Graham Gibson 29,70
Queen's Park- Richard Bowers 40 Frankie Carroll 60
MOM- Graham Gibson, East Fife
Redcard- Edwin Pindi, Queen's Park-12

"Whew!" said a clearly relieved Grayling.

"Now *that* was not Craig Farr's finest performance," said Gemmell shaking his head.

"Not one, not two, but three times he gives away goal kicks directly to Queen's Park with them being the only ones around."

"At least he got lucky on the last one, with Carroll unable to control it to get the shot off. Those first two were bad though."

"It was a shame to waste a 2-0 lead and allow them to even the match with only 10 men- that was bad."

"Still, Graham Gibson made a brilliant move to get his brace and 15th goal of the season."

"Yes, and that goal saved us. Do you realize we just moved into 1st place- two points ahead of them and Berwick?"

"Pretty amazing isn't it. Now all we have to keep doing is proving ourselves."

retired_joannemcmillen

Fee Fi Fo Fum, I smell the blood because I've cut my thumb?

retired_destiny1124

kj89- not sure what you were trying to add with your comment...

***

27.1.07
Berwick (3) East Fife (2)
Berwick- Chris Bart-Williams 7-P Stephen Manson 16 Steven Notman 39
East Fife- Paul Hampshire 43 Craig O'Reilly 68
MOM- Paul Hampshire, East Fife

"Short-lived stay in 1st," muttered Gemmell.

"We played a good match, with the exception of the goals we gave up," sighed Grayling. "All three goals were just poor choices in our area."

"The penalty call was weak on Christopher Gilligan."

"But that wasn't what killed us. Giving away Manson's goal when we didn't get back after that free kick was painful and then Iain Vigurs rotten clearance right to Notman alone inside the edge of the area was brutal."

"The boys did give their all trying to fight back."

"If John Connolly doesn't play as well as he did, I think we might have won this match. The save he made on Andrew Duffy was just a huge one to keep us from equalizing."

"How bad was the injury to Stevie Nicholas?"

"Broken ribs. He will be out at least a month."