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KUTGW Gonch

up the fife!

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Scottish 2nd Division - 3/1/2004
East Fife 5-0 Dumbarton
Goals: D Walker '10 '31 '55 '82, G Love '43


MoM: D Walker
Attendance: 1529 - New Bayview


GK: S Colgan
DR: I Chalmers (>> G McCheyne '56)
DC: C Hendry (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart
MC: B Blair
MC: C Hargreaves (>> S Nicholas '85)
ML: J Rae
FC: D Walker (>> K Deuchar '85)
FC: G Love

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

Match Report:
A 5-star display from the Fifers, including a four goal salvo from Dean Walker saw off bottom of the table Dumbarton in the first game of the New Year. Before the game manager Gino Dooba-Mackay was presented with his 4th Manager of the Month award in a row, to the cheers of the home fans, and he will have been even happier with what he would witness on the pitch over the course of the afternoon. It was a clash of top against bottom, and remarkably, one team who have yet to lose in the league against a team that have yet to win in the league, over half-way through the season. These type of games can often be coupon-busters with form going out of the window and upsets caused, but this was never to be the case. Although that is not entirely true. Despite the fact that Dumbarton only had 1 shot in the whole match, it very nearly gave them the lead in the 7th minute. Colin Hendry and Ross Currie failed to clear a relatively easy looking ball, and Dumbarton's Kevin Steele went through and unleashed a rocket at the goal. However, Steven Colgan pulled off a magnificent save to deny what looked like a certain goal, and remind his manager of his obvious ability, in the face of being left out in place of Jonathan Brain in the recent cup games against Peterhead.

From that point on it was one-way traffic on a one-way road, The Fifers running Dumbarton ragged with some marvellous football. All 4 goals for Dean Walker were from headers and he took his tally for the season to 12 goals, converting crosses from Brian Blair and Bobby Duncan in the first half, and from Graeme McCheyne and Iain Chalmers in the second. In between these goals Gordon Love tapped into an empty net from a parried Dean Walker shot, and the rout was finished by Walker in the 82nd minute, before he went off to a standing ovation. 5-0 and the Fife go marching on.

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cheers Damon, looking good for promotion i hope anyway!

Update from Daily Herald: League leaders around Scotland, England & Europe:
At the start of the new year, lets take a look at the clubs sitting at the summit of their leagues across Europe:

Scotland:
Scottish Premier League: Celtic (+4 points => Rangers)
Scottish First Division: Raith Rovers (+2 => Clyde)
Scottish Second Division: East Fife (+14 => Morton)
Scottish Third Division: Montrose (+12 => Cowdenbeath)

England:
English Premiership: Manchester United (+3 => Arsenal)
Division 1: W.B.A. (+3 => Millwall)
Division 2: Brighton (+16 => Tranmere)

Spain:
Primeral Liga: Real Madrid (+7 => Sevilla)

France:
Ligue 1: P.S.G. (+1 => Montpellier)

Italy:
Serie A: Juventus (+3 => Lazio)

Portugal:
Superliga: Benfica/Porto (tie)

Holland:
Eredivisie: PSV (+3 => Ajax)

Belgium:
First Division: Standard Liege (+1 => AA Gent)
--------------------------
East Fife next 10 fixtures:

vs ALLOA (A)
vs STIRLING (A) Scottish Cup 3rd Round
vs AIRDRIE UTD. (H)
vs FORFAR (A)
vs MORTON (A)
vs ARBROATH (H)
vs HAMILTON (H)
vs BERWICK (A)
vs ALLOA (H)
vs STENHOUSEMUIR (H)

Send your predictions/comments to Fee-Fife-Fo-Fum, for all things Fife!

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7th January 2004 - Last minute winner gives Fife the points
A last-minute Willie Stewart winner gave East Fife all three points at Recreation Park against Alloa today, after a beautiful passing move built from the back involving 8 Fife players. The game had looked all set for a draw after Iain Nicholson had cancelled out Dean Walker's 5th minute effort, and the game had been a close fought encounter, one in which 7th placed Alloa will feel aggrieved not to have held on for a draw.
Man of the Match: Willie Stewart


10th January 2004 - Fifers crash out to lowly Stirling
East Fife manager's decision to rest in-form Brian Blair proved costly today as 3rd division Stirling knocked them out of the Scottish cup. A 76th minute goal from Stirling substitute Scott McLean was decisive in the end, as The Fifers put in a lacklustre display epitomised by the fact that they only had one shot on target in the whole game. McLean took his goal well, chipping keeper Jonathan Brain as he rushed out to close him down and sending the home fans crazy at the Forthbank Stadium. With this East Fife are now out of all three cup competitions, leaving them to concentrate on the league although this will not have pleased the manager, who was said to have been keen to go far in the Scottish Cup this season.
MoM: Willie Stewart


17th January 2004 - Deja vu at home to Airdrie
Airdrie came from behind to snatch a point today in almost an exact replica of the last time the two sides met at New Bayview. In that game it also finished 1-1, in that game Airdrie came from behind to get a draw, in that game East Fife created far more chances and had far more possession and in that game Airdrie's goalkeeper Mark McGeown was man of the match. And so too it was in this game. East Fife's form has stuttered a bit this year so far, but when Dean Walker headed home from a Brian Blair corner to grab his 14th goal of the season, it looked as if East Fife would go from strength to strength as their dominance had implied. However, a Jerome Vareille equaliser in the 79th minute cancelled the deficit and Airdrie held on for a point, largely again thanks to keeper McGeown.
MoM: Mark McGeown

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Going into the game at Station Park against 2nd place Forfar Gino Dooba-Mackay was worried. Although the gap between the 2 sides stood at 15 points before kick-off, East Fife hadn't been playing with the same fluency and conviction that they had been through the opening half of the season. Dooba-Mackay couldn't put his finger on why- maybe the players had taken their foot off the pedal with such a large gap at the top, thinking promotion was a foregone conclusion. Maybe, he thought, captain Colin Hendry's decision to retire had effected the younger players, as he had been a consistent shining light to them with his attitude both in training and in matches. Or maybe they were just tired. Outside the first 11 and subs options were generally thin and East Fife had no under19s and few reserve players capable of making the step up. Dooba-Mackay had tried to bring players in but he was determined to get the right quality of player, which meant offering a higher wage, something the board weren't willing to do. Indeed, Dooba-Mackay and chairman Gordon Dow had had several discussions about the wage structure at the club and Dow would not budge, causing a brief deterioration in relations between the two friends. Dooba-Mackay knew the situation before he took the job, but him and his scouts had come across some good players that he wanted to pounce on before other clubs were alerted to their potential. He realised that to improve the club, the scouting system had to be immaculate and regularly stayed up into the early hours watching videos of any level of football, most recently Icelandic football! Dow however would not be convinced despite Dooba-Mackay's trimming of squad's wages, aided further by the sales of Paul Mortimer and Peter Reilly both to Stranraer for £3,000 combined.

Dooba-Mackay was not best pleased with what he had seen on the training ground in the past week, feeling that some first team players were not showing the dedication that they had earlier in the season. Perhaps it was time for a change he thought, and decided that now was the time to try and bring freshness into the team. He did so by recalling young left-wingerGordon Gilbert into the first team squad, having rejected an offer for him from next opponents Forfar earlier in the week. He also decided to drop Iain Chalmers, whose performances in training had been slack of late. Chris McMillan was also called into the squad to cover for the loss of Willie Stewart through injury.

As the players ran out onto the pitch Dooba-Mackay wasn't reassured. The fire in the eyes wasn't there and many looked tired before they'd even kicked a ball. Forfar on the other hand seemed buoyed by the opposition, and the chance to close the gap. They came out looking sharp and confident. Was this to be the 1st defeat?

In the 17th minute Forfar took the lead through a long range effort from Hugh Davidson. Criticism could be aimed at the keeper Steve Colgan, Mackay thought to himself, as although it was a good effort it was straight at him. Heads dropped, and Forfar dominated the rest of the half.

At half time Dooba-Mackay dished out a b*llocking, informing his players that if they wanted to stay at the top they had to perform to the highest of their abilities in every game, albeit in slightly more peppered language. It had little effect. Robbie Horn alerted himself to Dooba-Mackay with an outstanding performance at the back for Forfar, a possible replacement for Hendry he thought to himself. In this instance he started the move by thwarting Dean Walker and setting Forfar on the attack, playing a pass to Reid who then played a one-two with top scorer in the 2nd division Paul Tosh, before slotting coolly past Colgan.

Forfar went from strength to strength until Chris McMillan bagged his first of the season finishing nicely after a delightful cross-field through ball from Brian Blair. The last 15 minutes were end to end stuff with East Fife desperately trying to maintain their unbeaten record, and Forfar continuing to attack, but in the 86th minute the game was decided once and for all. Chris Miller got his head to a corner and looked like he had clinched the equaliser, but it was expertly clawed from goal by Forfar keeper Michael Brown. He then turned provider by hoofing the ball upfield and setting up a 4 on 3 counter attack, which was converted by Scott Taylor after Tosh's effort was palmed straight into his path. 3-1 it ended then, and East Fife's record of 21 games without losing came to an end, narrowing the gap at the top to 12 points.


Scottish 2nd Division - 24/1/2004
Forfar 3-1 East Fife
Goals: H Davidson '17, A Reid '50, S Taylor '87 C McMillan '73


MoM: R Horn (Forfar)
Attendance: 1546 - Station Park


GK: S Colgan
DR: G McCheyne (>> J Ovenstone '75)
DC: C Hendry (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: C McMillan
MC: B Blair
MC: C Miller
ML: J Rae (>> G Gilbert '55)
FC: D Walker
FC: K Deuchar (>> G Love '45)

(Subs- J Brain (GK), J Ovenstone, G Cunningham, G Gilbert, G Love)

-----------------------
Dooba-Mackay's post-match comments:
-I'm disappointed to lose, but at the same time perhaps the unbeaten run had become an albatross around our necks. I've got a young squad here who were written off by everyone at the start of the season, yet only 4 months later we are now expected to win every game. Forfar played well, but I felt we could have snatched an equaliser in the last few moments. We went for it, nearly scored and then they hit us on the break to wrap up the points. Thats football, and we have to deal with that and prepare now for our trip to Morton.

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Gino Dooba-Mackay spent that night watching the video again and again trying to put his finger on what the problems were with the team's performance, and weighing up whether it was just a one-off defeat or the signs of something more serious. It had been a long and slightly disappointing one and he was fairly tired. He was about to sit down to watch a video he had been sent- Liverpool Reserves vs Manchester United Reserves, mainly to monitor the progress of Liverpool striker Daniel Sjolund, a player he knew was soon out of contract and on the transfer list, when the phone rang. He didn't really want to entertain a phone call at this hour but decided to anyway. It was Mr. Martin Laing, chairman of Stenhousemuir. Having sacked John McVeigh he rang Dooba-Mackay to offer him the job. He told Mackay that he considered him to be the best young manager in the 2nd division and, aware that East Fife were not as financially comfortable as Stenhousemuir, tried to lure him with the offer of £30,000 to spend. He also took time to explain to Dooba-Mackay the history of the club, where he wanted the club to be and how he aimed to go about doing it. They had decent training facilities and a nicer stadium than East Fife, and Laing tried to persuade Dooba-Mackay that it was time for a step up in his career. Stenhousemuir were languishing in the relegation zone, but Laing wanted a mid-table finish, aware that a few wins could help propel them higher up the league.

Dooba-Mackay enjoyed the chat and listened earnestly to what Laing had to say. They had a few good players and a better than coaching staff than East Fife, and in terms of facilities it did represent a step up. He analysed the league table and found that East Fife were 29 points ahead of Stenhousemuir. Laing needed a reply within the next 24 hours in order to press on with his search either way, but the call came within an hour. He refused the job offer. During the hour he spent thinking he weighed up his own prospects. He was an ambitious man and he wanted to manage at a higher level as soon as possible, but he felt that that could be achieved at East Fife. If he could ride out the season and get them promoted, against all odds, his profile would surely raise, purting him in a stronger position at the club when it came to wage and transfer demands. He was in the process of building something promising at East Fife and didn't want to let it go. He had a 5 year plan that, no matter how heavily ridiculed, he wanted to achieve, or at least hang around long enough to see it through its infancy. He loved working in Methil with this set of players and this set of fans, in this small but cosy office. It was a polite but firm 'thanks but no thanks.'

It had been a busy week for Dooba-Mackay, with the transfer deadline approaching. His over-achieving squad was not short of admirers and his phone would not stop ringing with offers for players. Dean Walker, Brian Fairbairn, Craig McMillan and Gordon Gilbert had all been the subject of bids from clubs ranging from Swindon to Stranraer, but all had been turned down. In the meantime, Ipswich Town had been sending scouts to Fife games regularly as part of a bid to take Willie Stewart to Portman Road, and Dooba-Mackay was careful to make sure they didnt try illegal methods in their hunt. He had also attempted himself to bring in new personnel, but was unsuccessful in bids to bring in a new assistant manager and coach to the club, many potential candidates turning their noses up at the 'measly' wage East Fife were prepared (or could afford) to offer.

And so to Cappielow Park, where East Fife faced Greenock Morton. Dooba-Mackay brought in John Ovenstone for his first start of the season, but was hampered by the news that Gordon Love would be out injured for a month. He decided to shake up the front line and brought Brian Fairbairn, subject of a rejected bid by Exeter, into the starting lineup. This decision was rewarded within 5 minutes of the game when Fairbairn gave the Fifers the lead with a well struck volley after good work down the right from Willie Stewart. Stewart played a blinder and scored his 8th of the season just before half-time with a low shot after a good run. East Fife's dominance was converted to goals for the first time in a while, and they scored their third shortly into the second half, as Fairbairn powered home a low drive past the keeper after David McGregor's last ditch tackle on Dean Walkerran straight into his path. With that, the Fifers are back on track.


Scottish 2nd Division - 31/1/2004
Morton 0-3 East Fife
Goals: B Fairbairn '5 '53, W Stewart '44


MoM: D Walker
Attendance: 1709 - Cappielow Park


GK: S Colgan
DR: I Chalmers
DC: C Hendry (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: J Ovenstone
MR: W Stewart
MC: B Blair (>> C Hargreaves '82)
MC: C Miller
ML: C McMillan (>> G Gilbert '62)
FC: D Walker
FC: B Fairbairn

(Subs- J Brain (GK), B Duncan, C Hargreaves, G Gilbert, K Deuchar)

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East Fife completed a clean sweep of the awards today as the Young Player of the Month, Player of the Month and Manager of the Month awards for January all ended up at New Bayview. The press and camera crews were in full force at the club's training ground in Methil as the awards were presented to Brian Blair, Dean Walker and Gino Dooba-Mackay respectively. For the manager it is his 5th Manager of the Month award in a row, and Berwick's Paul Smith is the only other manager to pick up the award this season. For Dean Walker it was his first award of the season thanks to his outstanding performances and record of over a goal a game in January, and for Brian Blair it was his 4th award, a hat-trick of Young player of the month awards to go with his Player of the Month award in December. Manager Dooba-Mackay praised both players and his squad as a whole, pointing out that the fact that both Walker and Blair were under 23 bodes well for the club's future and challenging them to continue their good form, starting with the home game against Arbroath at the weekend.

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The next day Gino Dooba-Mackay called a squad meeting for midday. He felt the victory at Greenock Morton was a huge result, lifting the air of tiredness and complacency that may have set into his players. For the first time in a long time they had finally converted their chances and had won convincingly. This was a relief to him as he wasn't sure how this young squad would react to their 1st league defeat. One day you're on top of the world and the next you're at the bottom looking up, and its how you react in the face of adversity that determines true characters. So he was, for the moment, pleased. However he still felt that some players were taking it easy. Their substantial lead at the top had made players ease off he felt, and he decided to do something about it. They needed a new challenge and he would set it for them. With a 15 point lead and 13 games to go he set them the challenge of winning promotion in the next 8 games, informing them that he wanted promotion secured by the home game with Greenock Morton on the 10th April 2004. He felt that 6 wins would be enough to promote them and wanted it wrapped up as soon as possible. With this short meeting the players had a new focus. Could they wrap it up by that date? 'Have you got what it takes to complete this challenge?' he asked his players. He hoped it would get them fired up and focussed. They had 8 games in which to do it, starting with Arbroath at home.

So when Ross Currie headed in the last goal of a 6-0 victory in the 90th minute, they had passed the first test with flying colours and shown the manager what they were capable of. In front of 1,525 fans at New Bayview, East Fife had absolutely battered Arbroath. It was a footballing masterclass, if such a term could be applied to a semi-professional Scottish 2nd division side. Chris Miller had opened the scoring with a 25 yard screamer and all the goals had a touch of class about them. Brian Blair scored a trademark free-kick to make it 2-0 before seeing his 20 yard curler deflected into the net to make it 3-0. Dean Walker made it 4-0 just after half an hour with a header latching onto a through pass from Colin Hendry, before the captain went on to score his first ever goal for the Fifers with a header from a corner in the 64th minute. When Currie too bagged his 1st ever goal the rout was complete to Dooba-Mackay's satisfaction. With Forfar being held by Morton the gap at the top of the table lengthened to 17 points and East Fife's chances of promotion extended further.

14th February 2004 - East Fife 4-1 Hamilton
East Fife dished out Hamilton a Valentine's Day massacre today at New Bayview with Dean Walker and Willie Stewart both bagging a brace. The Fifers looked lively from the off and scored within three minutes, Walker profitting from Iain Chalmers' good work down the right hand side to blast the ball past Raymond Jellema. Stewart volleyed home from a Brian Fairbairn free-kick and then finished off a nice move by slotting home from eight yards out to make it 3-0. Hamilton managed to get one back thanks to a good goal from Brian McPhee and if it weren't for some fine saves from keeper Steven Colgan Hamilton could well have scored a few more, but any fleeting chance of a comeback was ended by anothe goal from Walker, this time firing home a goal after a nice lay-off from substitute Grant Cunningham.
Man of the Match: Dean Walker

21st February 2004 - Berwick put to the sword
East Fife dished out another 4-1 beating today, this time Berwick the recipients at Shielfield Park. The result left the Fifers 21 points clear of third placed Berwick and 19 points clear of Forfar in second place, with promotion now looking more and more inevitable. Dean Walker bagged another brace to take his tally for the season up to nineteen goals, and Willie Stewart and Brian Fairbairn produced the other goals for East Fife in a fairly comfortable display. After the game manager Gino Dooba-Mackay declared to the gathered press that he fully expected his side to win the league and took a cheeky swipe at the pundits that had written off East Fife's chances at the start of the season. He also told his players that they had 5 more games to complete the challenge he had set for them, and win promotion before the 10th April.
MoM: Dean Walker

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As the teams profile was growing so too was the manager's. Since turning down the job offer from Stenhousemuir, Dooba-Mackay had received no fewer than 4 more job offers. Alloa, Ayr, Luton Town and Colchester United had all expressed an interest in having Mackay as the manager of their club, and although he was flattered by this attention, he turned the job offers down. The hardest one for him to turn down was Colchester, being his hometown club. He had thought long and hard about accepting that job, as they were languishing in the relegation zone in Division 2 but only 4 points behind with 13 games to go. He felt he could keep them up and take it from there, but decided to reject the offer. Right club, wrong time he thought to himself and got on with the task of taking East Fife up a division. His monopoly on the Manager of the Month award continued, as did East Fife's stranglehold on the Player and Young player of the Month awards, Brian Blair retaining his award and Willie Stewart picking up the Player of the Month award, his first of the season. For the game against Alloa, Dooba-Mackay maintained his recent policy of mixing up the team in order to maintain the freshness and hunger, bringing Jonathan Brain and Jimmy Rae back into the starting lineup, and a 4-0 victory showed the decision had paid off, with Rae scoring the last of the four goals with a sumptuous left-foot free kick. Brian Fairbairn continued his rich vein of scoring form too, scoring two goals to take his tally up to eight goals from only ten starts.


Scottish 2nd Division - 28/2/2004
East Fife 4-0 Alloa
Goals: B Blair '2, B Fairbairn '26 '37, J Rae '75

MoM: B Fairbairn
Attendance: 1724 - New Bayview


GK: J Brain
DR: I Chalmers (>> C Lumsden '88)
DC: C Hendry (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart
MC: B Blair
MC: C Miller
ML: J Rae
FC: D Walker (>> K Deuchar '75)
FC: B Fairbairn

(Subs- S Colgan (GK), C Lumsden, C Hargreaves, C McMillan, K Deuchar)

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It had been a good few weeks for East Fife. Since their unbeaten run had come to an end at the hands of Forfar the team had won their last five on the bounce with some fantastic, goal packed performances along the way. Manager Dooba-Mackay's challenge to his players seemed to have given them a new freshness and focus, and he had slightly altered the training sessions to make them more light hearted and fun but at the same time conducive to team-building. He had given them a day off in the middle of the week and taken them paintballing in an attempt at keeping morale and team spirit high. It was a good day out he felt even though Kenny Deuchar had fired a paintball that hit the gaffer in the neck causing a painful bruise. Dooba-Mackay had joked that it was the best shot Deuchar had produced all season, but it was all in good humour and the day went well. The only real problem in the squad at the moment was Dooba-Mackay's relationship with assistant manager Craig Robertson. His contract was soon up and negotiations had broken down, with Robertson seeking a higher wage. Gino felt that he wasn't really even worthy of the wage he was on at present and decided to withdraw negotiations, informing Robertson he was surplus to requirements at the end of the season, certainly as assistant manager. He planned to revamp the coaching staff in the summer if he could clinch promotion, as at present the coaching resources were woeful and certainly not good enough for where he wanted the club to be.

There was a feel-good factor at New Bayview at the moment, and the Friday before the home game against Stenhousemuir Dooba-Mackay had been in a music shop in Methil when a man of about sixty years approached him to congratulate him on a superb first season. The man told Gino that he had been to every game for the past 38 years, although recently he had had to reduce the amount of away games he was attending, mainly due to health and financial reasons. Dooba-Mackay always had time for genuine fans, being a bit of a trainspotter himself before he had got the East Fife job; indeed he may not ever have got into management if it weren't for his determination to go to as many football grounds as he could. He thanked the man, who was with his grandson, and gave them both an autograph and free tickets for the Stenhousemuir game to their delight. He realised it was a tight-knit community in Methil and wanted to get involved in projects around the town as well as being an approachable figure. It was their football club after all, he was there to serve them and he wanted to do it the right way.

On the day of the game he felt confident. He had named a strong line-up and had ordered them to do the business and get the ball down the flanks when possible for crosses to the front two. The game began tightly, neither side giving too much away and a lot of tackles flying in, especially in the centre of midfield. Gradually though East Fife began to assert themselves and play some good football, and when Dean Walker gave them the lead after good work down the left hand side involving Chris Hargreaves and Bobby Duncan, Dooba-Mackay sensed the floodgates would open. And that they did. 2 minutes later it was 3-0. After Willie Stewart had scored a tap-in from a rasping right-footed shot by Jimmy Rae that was palmed straight into Stewart's path, Brian Blair then scored what would go on to be Goal of the Month with a magnificent 30 yard effort that flew into the top right hand corner like a rocket. From here East Fife went from strength to strength and after 2 goals from Brian Fairbairn, Blair wrapped up the scoring with almost a carbon copy of his first goal, another 30 yard effort that flew past the keeper. At the final whistle the fans went beserk as they began to sense that promotion was now almost secure. Dooba-Mackay ran onto the pitch at the end to clap the fans and embrace the carnival atmosphere, and as he did so he caught sight of Mike, the old man he had met in the music shop, with his grandson on his shoulders. Dooba-Mackay smiled at them and punched the air with glee and Mike gave him a big smile and a wave. In that moment Dooba-Mackay felt accepted in Methil, and sensed strongly that promotion was now a certainty for East Fife.

Scottish 2nd Division - 6/3/2004
East Fife 6-0 Stenhousemuir
Goals: D Walker '40, W Stewart '41, B Blair '43 '69, B Fairbairn '57 pen'64

MoM: B Blair
Attendance: 1725 - New Bayview

GK: J Brain
DR: I Chalmers
DC: C Hendry (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart (>> C McMillan '61)
MC: B Blair
MC: C Hargreaves
ML: J Rae
FC: D Walker (>> G Love '72)
FC: B Fairbairn

(Subs- S Colgan (GK), C Lumsden, C Miller, C McMillan, G Love)