retired_ivonta

sorry i havent updated this for a while, my net connection at home is ridiculously poor

A week later we were hosts in the next chapter of our ever-growing rivalry with Queen of the South in our third fixture in two months against the side from Dumfries. Although we had bounced back and reacted well to our Cup final defeat at their hands, the pain of the loss still lingered and everyone at the club saw this game as a chance for revenge. So far this season we had lost twice to Queen of the South and had shipped eight goals in those two matches, so I was keen to emphasise the importance of defending well and hopefully keeping a clean sheet to the players, hoping that we might use that as a solid platform from which to perhaps take something from the game. The form we were in and the confidence of the squad satisfied me and made me feel positive about the game, but once again they managed to get one over us and record the victory.

We were the better side in the first half, but although we had the better of the possession we never managed to really penetrate their defence and were restricted mainly to long shots outside the box, Brian Blair and Ross O'Donoghue both coming close to opening the scoring in the first half hour. We looked strong and at times Queen of the South looked like they were struggling to contain us, but a combination of desperate defending and good goalkeeping from John Dodds meant that they survived to half time with the score goalless.

In the second half Queen of the South began to express themselves more and it became a much more even game, to my displeasure. O'Donoghue again went close with a well saved free-kick, but in the 67th minute it was that man Emilio Jaconelli, a thorn in our side several times already this season, who popped up to score the decisive goal heading home from a corner. It was his 6th goal in three games against us and it was enough to give them the points. Once again manager John Connolly and his men proved frustrating opponents and in three games we are yet to even pick up a point against them. All in all it was a frustrating game, but one I consider a blip as we still looked good going forward and, the goal aside, solid at the back. It is only our third defeat in fourteen league games too, the only really annoying thing is that these blips keep coming against the same team but that's the way it goes, and we must now focus on some tricky fixtures, starting with Ross County away next week.

Scottish 1st Division - 20/11/2004
East Fife 0-1 Queen of the South
Goals: E Jaconelli '67

MoM: E Jaconelli
Attendance: 1792 - New Bayview


GK: C Bell
DR: I Chalmers
DC: G McDonald (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart
MC: R O'Donoghue
MC: B Blair (>>B Kerr '71)
ML: J Rae (>>R Baldacchino '71)
FC: D Walker (>>G Love '90)
FC: K Deuchar

(Subs- S Colgan (GK), J Ovenstone, B Kerr, R Baldacchino, G Love)

retired_ivonta

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>

Fifers top the Christmas charts

East Fife began the season as 150-1 outsiders for promotion, and a side who hadn't been anywhere near the top of the Scottish 1st Division since the 1950s. However as manager Gino Dooba-Mackay sits down to eat his dinner on Christmas day, he does so with the best present possible- his team occupying the Christmas no.1 spot. It caps what has so far been a remarkable year and a half in charge of the Fifers, who have gone from the Third Division to top of the First in just over two years.

When Dooba-Mackay arrived on the scene in July 2003, unheard of and to little fanfare, he began his career with the boldest of statements, famously promising to be challenging for honours in the SPL within five years of his appointment. Back then these words were laughed at and dismissed as nothing more than the over-confident words of a young man trying to make his mark on the football world, but today those words look as if they could ring true. It goes without saying that even at this stage and with the progress he has made, challenging for honours in the SPL remains a long way off, but Mackay continues to build a squad full of confidence and attacking flair which many sides in the division are finding difficult to cope with.

Since their last defeat at the hands of Queen of the South they have managed to pick up 10 points from 12, catapulting themselves to a four point gap at the top of the league, with an astonishing 51 goals from 17 games and a goal difference that reads +33. This can be attributed largely to the way Dooba-Mackay is bringing the best out of players like Brian Fairbairn and Kenny Deuchar, who between them have 24 goals and both top the scoring charts in the league with 13 and 11 respectively, and it was no surprise to see Dooba-Mackay named Manager of the Month for December. The most impressive thing for East Fife under Dooba-Mackay is the manner in which they are playing, and winning. With an average of exactly three goals a game they are sweeping teams away, and it is a shame that New Bayview can only hold 2000 fans as the flair and style of their game at the moment is worthy of housing ten times that amount. The recent 5-0 thrashing of St. Johnstone, for example, was nothing short of breathtaking. Within a quarter of an hour they were 3-0 up and that doesn't include the fact that Kenny Deuchar had missed a penalty in that time. Against Brechin at Glebe Park, despite the fact that they went 3-1 down in the 84th minute, their heads refused to drop and they managed to record a 3-3 draw with a brilliant fightback led by Willie Stewart, a player who looks as though he would have no problems adapting to the SPL. Their 4-1 victory at Ross County and, most recently, the 3-0 win at home to Falkirk show that they are capable of stringing a good run of form together, and it is this consistency that they will need if they are to push on and secure promotion to the SPL in the second half of the season.

Make no mistake though, East Fife are a small club. Despite their good form, the general feeling is that they will soon slip back down the table and this is reflected by the bookies, who continue to write them off in almost every game they play, often making their opponents pre-match favourites. They are lacking in funds with which to build and that their manager’s stock continues to rise could prove problematic for the Fifers, although his recent turning down of the Peterborough job will have encouraged the board and the fans, who are now thinking the unthinkable and harbouring ambitions of promotion. There have been rumours of an offer of a new contract but it is thought that Mackay is keen for the board to invest in new training facilities and has even spoken of expanding the stadium capacity, things chairman Gordon Dow appears reluctant to do. Not all is rosy, and for them to continue to progress on and off the field will ultimately require stronger financial backing which under the current regime seems unlikely to happen. However, their progress on the field has led bookies to cut them down to 6/1 3rd favourites for promotion, with 2nd place St. Johnstone still tipped to finish the season top of the tree, and if East Fife continue to perform as they have in the past year and a half, it would be foolish to rule out the possibility of a third straight promotion for the club from Methil.
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retired_embartl

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>

mpress. I let him know he'd get the full 90 minutes and he should concentrate on the overall game rather than worrying about whether or not I was going to replace him with the in-form Brian Fairbairn, and my words seemed to have some kind of effect on him because half an hour later he had a hat-trick

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not a bad reaction

I must admit I didn't come across this until it was nominated - but it was well deserved, and with the scoring talents in the squad - a double promotion isn't an unlikely prospect really

Good luck

retired_ivonta

cheers brian of nazareth, im glad my nomination has opened the story up to a wider audience and hope you enjoy reading it.

On Boxing Day we made the trip to Somerset Park to face Ayr, whose mediocre position of 7th in the league failed to reveal the solid nature of the side- they have the best defensive record in the league having conceded only 17 goals all season. That we knocked four past them in the corresponding fixture at the New Bayview earlier in the season did not fool me into thinking this would be anything other than a tough game and I was keen to emphasise to my players the tough test we had in store.

In the period leading up to this game it had been nice to read some of the favourable articles written about the club and myself, and it was pleasing to finally get some recognition from the press for the achievements at this club over the last few years both before and since I joined. Nice is all the articles are however, and it is important that we do not rest on our laurels just because we are flavour of the month in the press rooms; my ambitions stretch far wider than being merely the darling of the media hawks. One far more interesting piece of news came in the form of the draw for the Scottish Cup 3rd Round where we were handed an exciting tie at home to Motherwell. They currently lie 6th in the SPL and with players of the quality of Stephen Pearson and Kevin Lasley, the standout performers for them so far this season, it will prove quite a good indicator on just how close we are to being able to compete adequately with teams of SPL quality. One thing for sure is that it will be an entertaining game.

For the game against Ayr I decided to rest Ross O'Donoghue and called Grant Cunningham into the side for his first start of the season. With both Steven Colgan and Cameron Bell out of form, Jonathan Brain kept his place in the side having performed well when called upon in the previous game against Falkirk. In all honesty it was a dire game, Ayr just happy to shut us out for the 90 minutes and take the draw and us struggling to break down their solid defence. We had the lion's share of possession but failed to create enough chances to put them under any sustained pressure, and when we did carve a few openings Dean Walker was guilty of some bad misses, missing an open goal and even failing to hit the target when sent through by Jimmy Rae. By the end I was ready to just take the 0-0 and the clean sheet and get out of there so poor was the match, and I think most fans on both sides felt the same, when in stoppage time we won a corner. With fans pouring out of the ground I was expecting the referee to blow for full time and put an end to a miserable affair but he allowed play to go on. Brian Blair duly obliged and whipped in a dangerous ball into the box met in the air by Kenny Deuchar. Although their keeper did well to palm away the header, he managed to do so only into the path of Greig MacDonald who wasted no time in smashing the ball home to come up with a captain's goal to give us all three points. It was maybe a little unfair on Ayr as no-one really deserved anything from that game and 0-0 would have been a result more representative of the game itself, but getting what you deserve isn't what Christmas is all about and so we happily took the three points and took them back to Methil. Hearing on the coach back that St. Johnstone had only managed a 1-1 draw at home to Clyde made Boxing Day even better for us as it meant that we had extended our lead at the top of the table to 6 points, and would start the New Year in a very healthy position looking down at the rest of the league. Sir Alex Ferguson often says that it's the 1-0s that win you championships and when we look back on our position at the end of the season, this could well prove to be a very significant result.


Scottish 1st Division - 26/12/2004
Ayr United 0-1 East Fife
Goals: G MacDonald '90

MoM: A McGregor (Ayr)
Attendance: 5261 - Somerset Park


GK: J Brain
DR: I Chalmers
DC: G McDonald (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart
MC: G Cunningham (&gt;&gt;C Miller '66)
MC: B Blair
ML: J Rae
FC: D Walker (&gt;&gt;G Love '66)
FC: K Deuchar

(Subs- S Colgan (GK), E Forrest, C Miller, C Hargreaves, G Love)

retired_ivonta

So at the halfway stage of the season, the table looks as follows.

Scottish 1st Division
(After 18 Games):

<pre class="ip-ubbcode-code-pre"> Pos Team Won Drn Lst G.D. Pts 1st East Fife 12 3 3 +34 39 2nd St. Johnstone 9 6 3 +7 33 3rd Brechin 9 2 7 +2 29 4th Clyde 8 5 5 +1 29 5th Falkirk 8 2 8 +1 26 6th Queen of Sth. 8 1 9 -6 25 7th Ayr 7 3 8 +2 24 8th Forfar 6 4 8 -2 22 9th Partick Thistle 3 5 10 -16 14 10th Ross County 3 3 12 -23 12 </pre>


With a six point lead at the top and a plum tie at home to Motherwell in the Scottish Cup 3rd Round, can the Fifers maintain their good form and complete a remarkable rise from the 3rd Division to the SPL in successive seasons? Stay tuned, Fee-Fife-Fo-Fum will have the answers!

retired_bbcarr

this is a good read congratulations on the nomination

retired_ivonta

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Update from Daily Herald: League leaders around Scotland, England & Europe:

It's now time for our customary look around Europe, as we bring you the high flyers heading into 2005.

Scotland:
Scottish Premier League: Rangers (+3 points =&gt; Celtic)
Scottish First Division: East Fife (+6 =&gt; St. Johnstone)
Scottish Second Division: Albion Rovers (+3 =&gt; Morton)
Scottish Third Division: Queen's Park (+3 =&gt; Elgin)

England:
English Premiership: Newcastle United (+1 =&gt; Arsenal)
Division 1: Norwich City (+3 =&gt; Coventry City)
Division 2: Blackpool (+8 =&gt; Bradford City)

Spain:
Primeral Liga: Barcelona/Deportivo (tie)

France:
Ligue 1: Lens (+4 =&gt; Marseille)

Italy:
Serie A: AC Milan (+1 =&gt; Inter Milan)

Portugal:
Superliga: Benfica (+1 =&gt; Porto)

Holland:
Eredivisie: Ajax (+4 =&gt; PSV)

Belgium:
First Division: Anderlecht (+2 =&gt; Club Brugges)

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And here we present the individual awards:

World Player of the Year: Javier Zanetti (Inter Milan)
World Footballer of the Year: Ricardo Carvalho (Real Madrid)
European Footballer of the Year: Jan Koller (Borussia Dortmund)

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

retired_ivonta

cheers simon f, as one of the first people to wish me luck for the story im glad you still find it enjoyable

1st January 2005 - New Year's Day Hangover for 10-man Fifers
A last minute goal from substitute Matthew Shields rescued a point for Partick Thistle against East Fife at Firhill Park today after Iain Chalmers saw red for the Fifers midway through the second half. A calamitous Paul Kaczan own goal looked to have given East Fife all three points in this tight game but it was not to be for the visitors, who eventually succumbed to the brave fightback put up by the home side and had to settle for a point. The result keeps Partick Thistle in the relegation zone however, and with an eight point gap separating them from 8th place Forfar it could prove difficult for them to escape.
HT: 0-0 Man of the Match:Brian Blair


8th January 2005 - Gap widens as Fife march on
A 2-1 win at home to Forfar helped East Fife extend their lead at the top of Division 1 to eight points today, as title rivals St. Johnstone could only play out a 0-0 draw with Falkirk at McDiarmid Park. Second half goals from Kenny Deuchar and Brian Fairbairn saw off Forfar, despite Paul Tosh's 81st minute goal which was ultimately no more than a consolation. The Fifers, missing key men Willie Stewart and Iain Chalmers through injury and suspension respectively, put in a good performance against a spirited Forfar side and the score could have been a lot more embarrassing for Forfar had it not been for the excellent Michael Brown in goal. Nonetheless the three points remain in Methil, and East Fife will head into the Scottish Cup 3rd Round clash with Motherwell confident that they can pull off an upset against the SPL outfit.
HT: 0-0 MoM: Michael Brown (Forfar)

retired_ivonta

'What the f**k do you think you're playing at?' I bellowed at Stevie Nicholas as soon as I got into the dressing room having completed the post-match spiel.

'If you want to f**k about and make a fool of yourself you can f**k off to a club that accepts that kind of crap, d'ya hear me? I never want to see that sh*t again. Now sit down.'

From the looks on all the players' faces I was fully sure this was not the reaction anyone expected from me at this moment in time. Particularly as we had achieved possibly the greatest result in the club's recent history and almost certainly my finest result in management thus far. Knocking Motherwell out of the Scottish Cup with a clinical, professional and thoroughly deserved 2-0 win was obviously very pleasing but when I stepped into the dressing room I was furious, and the root of my anger was Nicholas. With Willie Stewart's thigh injury not healing in time for him to play in this fixture and Ryan Baldacchino also carrying a knock I had looked to Nicholas to provide us with width down the right hand side, and had therefore given him specific instructions on how to carry out his task against Motherwell's very competent left hand side pairing of Stephen Pearson and Steven Hammell. Time and time again I had instructed him to stay out by the touchline to stretch their midfield, and to get to the byline and win corners and throw ins as often as possible. So what did he do whenever he got the ball? Try and cut inside and beat a man or two. He persisted in doing it and consequently persisted in losing us possession after we struggled to get hold of it. If it weren't for an excellent performance from Jonathan Brain in goal, the tie would almost certainly have been over in that first half hour alone and it would have been Stevie's fault.

However in all honesty this only served as half the reason why I went off at him. I had my hunch as to why he was trying to showboat as much as he did against Motherwell and from the whispers around the club I knew I had reason. As it soon became made clear to me, Stevie Nicholas had been attracting some interest from clubs in the SPL. It turned out, in fact, that the night before the Motherwell game his brother had held preliminary talks with Dunfermline on his behalf with a view to a move away from New Bayview. These rumours were confirmed to me when I became aware during the game that Dunfermline had indeed sent scouts to monitor Stevie one last time before deciding whether to launch an official bid. This went some way to explaining why he was trying to show off and why he was completely ignoring my instructions- because he was trying to broker a move away from the club.

It meant I had to make a decision over his future and it didn't take very long for that decision to come. I called him into my office for a meeting after the players had changed and I told him I was aware that his brother had spoken with Dunfermline. He went red and looked at me sheepishly, realising he had been found out. I changed my tack here and rather than blow my top asked him why he was considering moving away. His answer was that although he was enjoying playing for the club, he was flattered at being linked with SPL clubs and was interested to hear what they had to say should any clubs make a bid for him. I've always thought Stevie to be a good lad and I didn't really want it to come to this but I made my decision there and then. As soon as a decent bid came in for him he would be sold, although I told him I would not allow him to talk with Dunfermline due to the illegalities of their approach. He would never play for me again.

--------

The game itself was actually quite an even affair and we rode our luck in the first half hour, again mainly thanks to Jonathan Brain pulling off some fine saves. Motherwell went into the game playing a 3-5-2 formation and the midfield pairing of Alex Walker and Brian Blair struggled to deal with both the overall higher standard of the midfielders and the extra man in that centre midfield, and so we began the game on the backfoot. It was very important for us not to concede in that opening spell of Motherwell pressure, and I felt that with every save Brain pulled off the whole team grew in confidence.

In the 28th minute we finally created our first chance, but Kenny Deuchar's low effort was comfortably saved by their 40 year old veteran Gordon Marshall in goal. Eight minutes later however, he was picking the ball out of the net as we took the lead. Deuchar won the ball in the air and flicked it on to Dean Walker, who beat his man before showing great composure in front of goal in just slotting the ball home for his 14th goal of the season. The lift in confidence was there for all to see and with this we began to assert ourselves more readily, perhaps no longer in awe of our Premier League opponents. Some good football ensued and it was converted into another goal on the stroke of half time. After good work down the left hand side between Jimmy Rae and Bobby Duncan, Duncan lofted the ball into the box for Deuchar to latch onto. The pass was sublime but the finish was even better as Kenny unleashed a precise left foot volley into the top left hand corner of the net. It was a great piece of technique, and from there we were comfortable enough to play out the second half and progress to the Fourth Round.

Scottish Cup 3rd Round - 15/1/2005
East Fife 2-0 Motherwell
Goals: D Walker '36, K Deuchar '45

MoM: J Brain
Attendance: 1959 - New Bayview


GK: J Brain
DR: I Chalmers
DC: G McDonald (c) (&gt;&gt;E Forrest '85)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: S Nicholas (&gt;&gt;J Mitchell '69)
MC: A Walker (&gt;&gt;R O'Donoghue '85)
MC: B Blair
ML: J Rae
FC: D Walker
FC: K Deuchar

(Subs- S Colgan (GK), E Forrest, R O'Donoghue, J Mitchell, G Love)

retired_ivonta

In the weeks that followed I set about finding a replacement for Stevie Nicholas, and in the meantime promoted Jon Mitchell from the reserve squad and gave him another chance to prove himself in the home game against Clyde, with Willie Stewart still struggling to shake off his thigh problem. Despite going 1-0 down to a 5th minute Chris Iwelumo goal, we kept our composure and managed to record a 4-1 victory thanks to two goals from Dean Walker and a goal apiece from Messrs Deuchar and Fairbairn. Mitchell played well and got an assist, but I couldn’t help but feel that we needed a new player if for nothing else but to boost the size of the squad. However, with little money to go out and secure the calibre of player I really wanted it meant looking in the bargain basement.

Transfer developments were going slowly and it looked as if I wouldn't manage to bring anybody in when, one day, as I was sitting in my office musing over various matters, the chairman's secretary Siobhan, a new employee, walked in and asked if it was okay to throw away some player profiles as the date for them to be removed from my shortlist had passed.

'No no, leave them with me' I instructed her and she shuttled off leaving me with the files. I dusted them off and began to sift through them, when I became aware of Ryan Williams, a 26 year-old attacking midfielder who had recently been released from Hull. His profile intrigued me and I arranged to have some tapes of his most recent matches sent up. When the tapes eventually arrived what attracted me to him most was his versatility; he could play anywhere across the midfield. I made enquiries as to whether he would be interested in joining us and he jumped at the chance to be back in football so I arranged a meeting with him in which we ironed out a 2 year contract worth £130 a week. With all the details wrapped up we completed the deal in time for him to be registered to face Queen of the South that same day.

Almost as soon as that deal was completed I received a phone call from Raith Rovers. The First Division Champions were currently bottom of the SPL and with only 2 points from 22 games, almost certain to come straight down again. The reason for their call was to make a loan offer for Stevie Nicholas. They would pay £3,000 for the privilege of taking him on loan to the end of the season, and a further £9,000 should they wish to make the deal permanent. It was a satisfactory deal for all parties, particularly having just signed Ryan, and so within hours the deal went through and Stevie left the club.