retired_ivonta

-Fifers crash out of League Cup at first hurdle.

League Cup 1st Round - 2/09/2003
Peterhead 3-2 East Fife
Goals: M Bavidge pen'3 '76, R Grant '68 (Peterhead)
B Fairbairn '19, W Stewart '23


MoM: M Bavidge (Peterhead)
Attendance: 1519 - Balmoor Stadium


GK: G O'Connor
DR: C Lumsden (>> I Chalmers '90)
DC: C Hendry (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart
MC: B Kerr
MC: C Hargreaves (inj: >> C Miller '35)
ML: J Rae
FC: B Fairbairn
FC: K Deuchar (>> D Walker '62)

(Subs- C Martin, I Chalmers, C McMillan, C Miller, D Walker)


Pundit's view:
-Gino Dooba-Mackay's side crashed out of the League Cup to Scottish Div. 3 side Peterhead today, but if it weren't for awful defending and goalkeeping mix-ups, they'd still be in the cup. Firstly, Brian Fairbairn gave away a needless penalty in the opening minutes, and then Hendry and stand-in goalkeeper O'Connor, in for the injured Colgan, made an almighty cock-up to gift Peterhead an equaliser, when East Fife were 2-1 up. Peterhead then went on and got a winner, with more poor defending, this time from Craig Lumsden, starting his first game of the season.
Hargreaves looked lively on his debut until he was taken off injured, and a fractured wrist will keep him out for a few weeks, but I must say, Jimmy Rae had another great game on the left flank. He looks like one for the future.

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Other news:

Gordon Love, Willie Stewart, Jimmy Rae and Brian Kerr have all signed new contracts.

retired_ivonta

East Fife's next 10 fixtures:-

vs HAMILTON (H)
vs MORTON (A)
vs BERWICK (A)
vs ALLOA (H)
vs ARBROATH (H)
vs STENHOUSEMUIR (H)
vs DUMBARTON (A)
vs AIRDRIE (A)
vs FORFAR (H)
vs HAMILTON (A)

How will the Fifers get on? This was the result in a poll on the club's unofficial website:

0-5 points = 5%
6-10 points = 13%
11-15 points = 44%
16-20 points = 27%
21-25 points = 8%
26-30 points = 3%

Stay tuned!

retired_tonytranbg79

unlucky in the cup, 5 year plan might be a bit ambitious but we will have to see

retired_ivonta

It was a cold November Monday morning in Methil and Gino Dooba-Mackay, manager of East Fife, had just arrived at his office overlooking a muddy, rained out New Bayview pitch. The last few months had been very eventful. So eventful that it required him a moment to take stock and reflect. His first season in management had thus far been successful. He was a confident man and his bold prediction in his opening press conference was still the butt of many a joke in the local and national sports pages, but even he did not expect the club to progress under his guidance as rapidly as it had.

Only 3% of Fife fans had even dared predict it, but to their and everybody's amazement in the Scottish 2nd Division, East Fife had taken a remarkable 26 points out of 30 and were sat at the top of the league with 34 points, 10 points ahead of nearest rivals Morton and Forfar. Indeed, they were also unbeaten in the process with a record that read Pld 14 - Won 10 - Drawn 4 - Lost 0 - For 27 - Against - 9 GD +18. Dooba-Mackay had done something right thus far, and the atmosphere around the club was a mixture of delight and caution. East Fife were, after all, 16-1 for promotion and hot favourites for relegation. All the local papers were optimistic, but many pundits around the country thought it was just early season luck getting the Fifers through. But this was not really the case. East Fife had played solidly all season if a little unspectacularly, and seemed to possess the capability to grind out results when needed. Of the 10 victories only 5 were by more than one goal, two of those coming in the first 2 games. They had also shown this new-found resilience in acquiring the ability to win after going behind, which they had done away to Dumbarton and Stenhousemuir amongst other fixtures.

Dooba-Mackay had left his assistant manager to take control of training this morning, but he did so with the intention of analysing how the players trained without him as he watched from his office. He was happy with the make-up of his squad at the moment, but realised it may need improving if they were to really challenge for promotion over the coming months. He had already begun to rest players that had been performing excellently, such as Jimmy Rae who had scored some vital free-kicks to maintain their unbeaten run (e.g. 90th minute away to Berwick) and Brian Blair, whose all-round good performances in centre midfield had led to rejected bids from several clubs, Rotherham and Bristol Rovers being the highest profile.

He was also pleased that the quartet of strikers were all weighing in with goals- Kenny Deuchar the highest scorer with 7 goals, followed by Dean Walker on six. The midfield and defence were also performing sterlingly, with Colin Hendry leading well from the back and Willie Stewart providing flair and skill on the right wing, popping up with some crucial goals along the way. 19 year-old goalkeeper Steven Colgan had also been an outstanding performer. Having been transfer-listed in Dooba-Mackay's 1st week in charge, he had gone on to establish himself as the number 1 goalie at the club, earning himself the offer of a new contract along the way.

Off the pitch Dooba-Mackay's efforts hadn't gone unnoticed and he had picked up the Manager of the Month award in the Scottish 2nd Division in September and October running. Brian Blair had also picked up 2 Young Player of the Month awards, and Kenny Deuchar had also received honours, picking up the Scottish 2nd Division Player of the Month in Ocotber.

It was not all going perfectly though. Dooba-Mackay had come under fire briefly for his signing of Chris Hargreaves. Being one of the higher earners at the club and the only sigining paid for, East Fife fans weren't happy when the 31 year-old picked up shin splints in only his 2nd game and was out for 2 months. Aside from this though, the fans were delighted with the new manager, and the Fifers looked forward to the December fixtures.

As Dooba-Mackay poured himself a mug of tea and looked out over New Bayview to watch the players train, a tingle of excitement ran through his body. He had devised a tough and strenuous training session for the players today, to keep the players on their toes and erase any sense of complacency that might be setting into his young squad. He thought it may be time to throw some fringe players into action to avoid any tiredness, and was keen to see how they performed in training. Despite the insistence on hard work and dedication, Dooba-Mackay couldn't help but get carried away for a minute in his office when thinking of the 10 point gap and the real prospect of, dare he even think it....promotion. 16-1 it was. Maybe he should have had a tenner on it, he thought to himself with a smile.

retired_jgirl87

Nice start to this story. I hope that the 5 year plan comes to fruition for you.

retired_ivonta

cheers tyrone and spav, we'll see about the 5 year plan!
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Scottish 2nd Division - 29/11/2003
Arbroath 0-1 East Fife
Goals: D Walker '39


MoM: D Walker
Attendance: 1538 - Gayfield Park


GK: S Colgan
DR: I Chalmers
DC: C Hendry (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart
MC: B Blair
MC: C Miller
ML: J Rae (>> C Hargreaves '82)
FC: D Walker
FC: K Deuchar (>> G Love '63)

(Subs- C Martin (GK), G McCheyne, G Cunningham, C Hargreaves, G Love)

Match Report:
East Fife extended their lead at the top of the Scottish 2nd Division to 12 points today with a clinical 1-0 victory over 7th placed Arbroath at Gayview Park. The visitors, unbeaten in the league so far, put in another solid performance and manager Gino Dooba-Mackay seems to have instilled a good work ethic into the team, making them hard to beat. Having given away a soft last minute goal from a mistake by Iain Chambersto make the score end 1-1 in this fixture at New Bayview earlier in the season, The Fifers were determined to take all 3 points from today's game, and they did so even if it was not pretty to watch. East Fife had largely dominated the game and will point to the chances created and shots on goal tally as an indicator of their dominance, but in truth it was a tight game with neither side giving too much away. In the opening 15 minutes East Fife had the better possession, but both sides were guilty of bad misses, Dean Walker shooting straight at the keeper when through on goal, and Ross Graham forcing a magnificent save from Steven Colgan when he too was put through by a superb pass from Arbroath captain Andy Cargill. From the resulting corner Walker had to be alert to clear off the line, preventing Arbroath from taking the lead.
East Fife soon began to assert themselves however, and in the 39th minute took the lead, Dean Walker converting Brian Blair's corner for his 7th goal of the season. This gave The Fifers a boost and it should have been 2-0 minutes later. When Arbroath keeper Vince Parker parried Dean Walker's header the whole ground held its breath as Kenny Deuchar looked certain to tap-in to an empty net, but the striker skewed his shot wide and fell to the floor, probably hoping for the ground to swallow him up. An appalling miss.
The opening 20 minutes of the second half were dominated by East Fife with Vince Parker in good form to deny Deuchar, but the game then petered out as both sides seemed to sit back. With 8 minutes remaining absentee Chris Hargreaves came on for his 1st appearance since his shin splints injury, but the game remained uneventful until the 90th minute when Willie Stewart did brilliantly to sidestep the keeper when put through, but lost his footing on the muddy pitch. Other results had gone East Fife's way though, and they extend their lead at the top to 12 points.

retired_ivonta

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> East Fife get Brain
East Fife have completed the signing of 20-year old goalkeeper Jonathan Brain. Brain had just been released by Port Vale and joins on a free transfer.
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

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Other News:

-Gino Dooba-Mackay has won the Scottish 2nd Division Manager of the Month award for the 3rd month running, after guiding his club to the top of the league by 12 points.

-East Fife have accepted a £3,000 bid for goalkeeper Gary O'Connor from a host of clubs, including Peterhead and Dumbarton. He will discuss personal terms. Manager Dooba-Mackay was unavailable for comment.

retired_ivonta

Scottish 2nd Division - 06/12/2003
East Fife 2-0 Berwick

Goals: B Blair '15, C Miller '48


MoM: B Blair
Attendance: 1615 - New Bayview


GK: S Colgan
DR: I Chalmers
DC: C Hendry (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart
MC: B Blair
MC: C Miller (&gt;&gt; G Cunningham '77)
ML: C Hargreaves
FC: D Walker
FC: G Love (&gt;&gt; B Fairbairn '77)

(Subs- J Brain (GK), G McCheyne, G Cunningham, J Rae, B Fairbairn)

Match Report:
A virtuoso display from Brian Blair set tongues wagging and telephones in Gino Dooba-Mackay's office ringing today, as he almost single-handedly won the game for the Fifers against 4th place Berwick. The 20 year old attacking midfielder produced a masterclass for the fans today, scoring one and making the other for Chris Miller, who headed home from a free-kick in the 48th minute to seal the points. But back to Blair. Before the season begun this youngster was loitering in the reserves at East Fife, and many fans did not expect him to make the grade, even at this level. But credit to the manager who seems to have spotted a gem here. After the game no fewer than six English Football League clubs, Brighton being one, had bids turned down for him, with several scouts at New Bayview to witness a magnificent show from the kid.
East Fife were dominant in this game and fully deserved the points, but it was the manner in which Blair performed that made people sit up and take notice. Everything the Fifers did seemed to stem from him as he pulled the strings in the midfield from start to finish. He had an early shot blocked from which Chris Hargreaves' speculative effort on the rebound flew wide from about 20 yards out, and he had already created chances for other members of the team, when in the 15th minute East Fife were awarded a free-kick for a foul on Willie Stewart. From 25 yards out up stepped Blair and curled a right foot shot into the top left hand corner. The crowd went wild and the value of the player went up a few thousand pounds. 1-0. The way he stepped up, you knew he'd score.
This was not all however. Throughout the game he caused Berwick problems with his range of passing, dropping back from the midfield and spraying 40 yard balls across the park, or just drifting behind the front two and shooting from long range. Indeed if it weren't for Ross Godfrey in the Berwick goal he would have a catalogue of beauties from this game, as several long range efforts were tipped over the bar by Godfrey. A 10 out of 10 performance from Blair then, and the praises of his manager after the game, saying, 'Brian Blair ran the game today and I'm delighted for him. If he continues performing like that and the team continue to defend and attack well, I don't see why we can't make our mark on this league campaign.'
If Blair continues to play like that, he won't be at lowly East Fife much longer.

retired_ivonta

Christmas is a wonderful time of the year. A time for sharing and caring, giving instead of always taking, and a time for family and loved ones. A time of the year when everything stands still and everyone relaxes. Kids running downstairs excitedly to open their presents, stolen kisses under the mistletoe, The Queen's speech, Christmas dinner, more food than you'd normally eat in a week and more alcohol than you'd care to admit. Christmas crackers, cranberry sauce, James Bond repeats. Love it. Great time of the year.

Except for a manager.

Christmas morning is usually a time when the family all get in touch with one another. 'Hope you like the presents, have a good day, pray for me at church.' That kind of thing. Well wishing. Not for me. I'm on the phone to my chairman Gordon Dow, being told there'll be no festive cheer for East Fife. Despite having trimmed the wage bill and bringing in a net profit of £19,000 from transfers, I'm being told to cut wages further. I don't really mind that, but on Christmas day?

There are a few players that enter my head and I am forced to call them in for contract negotiations. Here's me sitting in my cold office on Christmas morning, looking through the files to work out the highest paid earners and who's being paid what in terms of bonuses, and is it possible to cut the wages by giving him a lower contract with incentives if he scores goals? Sorry, can't watch the Queen's address later today, I have to negotiate Chris Miller's assist bonus.
Looking at the finances slightly worries me. We're 11 points clear at the top with 2 games in hand, and promotion is a real possibility this year. Everyone's happy and the fans are having the Christmas of their lives. But all is not well. We're in the red. We're making a monthly loss and something needs to be done about it. On the pitch we're successful at the moment. Despite 0-0 draws at home to Morton and against Peterhead in the Scottish Cup, we still lead the league and have just shrugged Peterhead off away from home, winning 2-1 to get revenge for our last cup encounter. Off it however, there may be trouble. We need a decent cup run I feel, a lucrative home tie will bring in some cash. Winning away to Stirling in the next round is crucial. Attendances are up so I'm happy, and the sale of Gary O'Connor to Queen's Park in January will ease the load. Lets hope so, as I don't want to have to sell players in an overachieving team, especially with Colin Hendry already announcing his retirement at the end of the season. I'll get him to rethink that though. Promotion is the goal and I don't want us to lose focus. Gotta stay focussed now, having come this far. I reckon we could do it. I'm confident.


(pours a brandy)

Anyway, back to business. I think I'll give Steve Nicholas a call and offer him an extra year in exchange for a wage cut. On Christmas Day. Who'd be a manager eh?!

retired_ivonta

Scottish 2nd Division - 27/12/2003
Stenhousemuir 0-2 East Fife
Goals: B Blair '16, D Walker '56


MoM: B Blair
Attendance: 1542 - Ochilview Park


GK: S Colgan
DR: I Chalmers
DC: C Hendry (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart
MC: B Blair
MC: C Hargreaves
ML: J Rae
FC: D Walker
FC: G Love

(Subs- J Brain (GK), G McCheyne, C Miller, S Nicholas, K Deuchar)

Match Report:
East Fife extended their unbeaten run to 18 games today, taking all three points back to Methil with a professional performance away to lowly Stenhousemuir. Before the season began, East Fife were relegation favourites and Stenhousemuir were tipped by many for promotion. How wrong they were. East Fife sit on a fourteen point lead in the league while Stenhousemuir linger in the bottom two, five league defeats in a row and manager John McVeigh's job hanging by a thread. East Fife's manager Gino Dooba-Mackay is certainly not wary of his position, and has become popular with the fans at New Bayview having put the Fifers in with a good shout for promotion to the Scottish 1st Division, barring a major cock-up in the 2nd half of the season.

Having gone 2 goals down in the same fixture here earlier in the season before coming back to win 4-2, East Fife have developed a professional streak that does not allow them to be put under such pressure these days, and in fact they haven't conceded a goal in the league now for six games- a sign of their mean defence currently conceding an average of 0.5 goals/game. The Fifers started brightly and had a chance to take the lead in the fourth minute. Willie Stewart flew down the right wing and beat his man with ease before whipping a mean cross into the box that narrowly evaded Gordon Love. Love managed to get the ball at the second attempt, swivelling and unleashing a wicked shot that was well saved by The Warriors' keeper Willie McCulloch. The away fans had to wait until the 16th minute for a goal, and it came from man of the moment Brian Blair, a trademark free-kick flying into the net from 20 yards out. Blair was once again named man of the match for another outstanding display, capped off with this fine goal.

In the second half East Fife consolidated their lead to the disappointment of the home fans. Ross Currie's long ball from defence was latched onto by Dean Walker, who maintained his cool and took it round the keeper to slot home. 2-0 and game over. East Fife's mean defence withheld the brief spells of pressure that Stenhousemuir managed to put together, and held on for the 3 points.