retired_jgirl87

Ryan Williams. :thup:

This is still a very enjoyable read, gonch19.

retired_ivonta

cheers spav, lets hope he can do the business for me. And please, call me gonch

With all the transfer activity taking place at New Bayview around deadline day it was easy to forget that we had a very important game against our newly established rivals Queen of the South at Palmerston Park. Having hurriedly completed the Ryan Williams deal he was eligible to play in the match, but sensing his lack of match fitness I decided to give him a place on the bench. Willie Stewart returned from injury to take his place in the starting lineup and I decided to continue with Craig Lumsden at right back in place of Iain Chalmers. Craig is a young player who has never really made much of an impact on me in the reserve games I've seen, but having earnt a place in the starting lineup for the game against Forfar earlier in the month thanks to Chalmers' suspension he has really impressed me with his pace and commitment down the right hand side. It gives us some competition for that place and means Iain will have to work hard if he is to win back his place in the foreseeable future. Young centre midfielder Alex Walker, whose rare starts in the first team have still been good enough to attract the interest of Sheffield Wednesday, kept his place in the side, Brian Blair having to settle for a place on the bench.

We came out of the traps flying for this one and it seemed Willie Stewart was chomping at the bit having spent the last few weeks on the sidelines. Some tough tackling from Craig Lumsden led to our first opening. He won two tackles in the heart of the midfield and played a simple pass to Kenny Deuchar who picked out Brian Fairbairn with a lovely through ball. Unfortunately for Brian the keeper matched his efforts and turned his shot behind for a corner. Stewart's lively start paid off a minute later when he forced his opposing man Paul Talbot into conceding a penalty. Kenny Deuchar, the coolest man on the pitch in this sort of situation, wasted no time in slotting the ball home.

The game began a tough tackling affair, with both sides harbouring a certain amount of hostility towards one another from previous encounters over the season, particularly the Challenge Cup Final. We had never even registered a point against Queen of the South in our three games and so the determination to end that run added something to our game I felt, and we were as committed and strong in the tackle as they were. It didn't take long for passions to boil over however, and in the ninth minute referee Neil Brand produced the first card of the game: a red one for Paul Talbot who, perhaps aggrieved at conceding the penalty to Willie Stewart, decided to seek out his own retribution by unashamedly booting him in the backside in an off the ball incident, hoping the ref wouldn't see it. It was a stupid thing to do, but from our point of view it was fine. A nine minute cameo performance resulting in a penalty and a sending off effectively gave us the win as we played out a 1-0 victory against the 10 men and claimed our first ever victory against Queen of the South. St. Johnstone had thrashed Partick Thistle 4-0 on the day, but their 2-0 defeat to Ayr in midweek meant that we went into February a comfortable 11 points ahead of second place. With a third consecutive promotion certainly attainable and a Scottish Cup Fourth Round clash at Second Division Airdrie United to look forward to, things are nicely set up for the rest of the season.


Scottish 1st Division - 29/1/2005
Queen of the South 0-1 East Fife
Goals: K Deuchar pen'6
Sent off: P Talbot '9

MoM: K Deuchar
Attendance: 3625 - Palmerston Park


GK: J Brain
DR: C Lumsden (>>R Currie '76)
DC: G McDonald (c)
DC: E Forrest
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart (>>B Blair '76)
MC: A Walker
MC: R O'Donoghue
ML: J Rae
FC: B Fairbairn (>>G Love '84)
FC: K Deuchar

(Subs- S Colgan (GK), R Currie, B Blair, R Williams, G Love)

retired_ivonta

And number eight - East Fife, will play number two .....Celtic. Thankyou ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the draw for the Scottish Cup Quarter Final.

On hearing the draw for the quarter finals my phone didn't stop ringing with calls from a variety of people including family, players and well-wishers and almost immediately I received a call from the chairman Gordon Dow to congratulate me on what was sure to be a fantastic occasion for the club. Having knocked out Airdrie at the Excelsior Stadium, coming from a goal behind to pick up a 2-1 victory mainly thanks to an outstanding performance from Ryan Baldacchino, we remained the only side outside the SPL to be in the hat for the next round. Although Celtic had needed a replay at Celtic Park to see off Forfar, the outcome of that tie was under little doubt and Celtic had ran out convincing 3-1 winners to set up what was for us a mouthwatering clash. The prestige and quality of Celtic is obvious, and it promises to be, thus far, the biggest game of my managerial career and one in which the spotlight really will come on us as a club. The players were absolutely ecstatic at the chance to pit their wits against the Scottish champions, and from my part I was happy that we had the chance to play them in a cup competition first, for if we are to get promoted then I think this tie will help to eradicate some of the aura and excitement around the club at playing such a great side; of course we should remain excited at playing such a club and that is a healthy attitude to have, but in future I hope it will be considered by all at the club as a regular occurence rather than the 'good day out for the fans' that it is presently being billed as.

In terms of revenue the tie will surely help us, but again it is a shame that our facilities are so poor that there will only be a maximum of 2,000 people inside the New Bayview for such a big game- the attendance for such a fixture could easily be five times that amount. Still, in front of our own fans in a small stadium who knows what could happen, it could provide us with a slight advantage on the pitch. I know the fans are exhilarated by such a fixture and this was reflected by the large queues outside the ticket office that took place once the draw was announced. For now though it is time to begin the preparations for what promises to be, from my point of view, an eye-opener of a game in terms of just how the players deal with such opposition. Have I, in my short years here, built a team with real potential and quality capable of achieving things at the top level in Scotland or are these players merely riding the crest of a wave of confidence resulting from our successes in achieving two consecutive promotions? All will soon be revealed. Celtic are coming to town.

retired_ivonta

unfortunately my updates are going to become less and less frequent in the next few months due to lack of internet access, but ill try my best to update it as often as possible

Upon learning of the impending visit of our Glasgow opponents in the quarter finals of the Scottish Cup there was, needless to say, a huge buzz of excitement around the town. Fans, players and staff alike were excited at the prospect of entertaining Scottish Champions Celtic and tickets were like goldust. Everyone wanted to be there but of course only 2,000 would be able to be there to see it and so people were going to great lengths in order to get hold of a ticket. One amusing, if not bizarre incident was when I received a telephone call from a pretty desperate punter pretending to be a long lost cousin of mine who, unfortunately for him, failed to convince me that we had 'spent Christmas together in Edinburgh when I was a wee lad.' Something to do with the fact that I have lived most of my life in England set alarm bells ringing but still, can't blame the guy for trying!

Amidst all the excitement it was easy to forget that we had some important games in the league in February, and indeed our first game after qualifying for the quarter finals in the cup was a potential title decider between ourselves and St. Johnstone at McDiarmid Park. The week before the cup games ourselves and St. Johnstone had both recorded victories against Ross County and Forfar respectively and so the gap between first and second going into the game remained 11 points- 'an insurmountable task for St. Johnstone given the way East Fife are playing,' remarked one pundit. Our 4-1 win over Ross County had indeed been emphatic and it was pleasing to see Alex Walker get off the mark for the club with two outstanding goals, one which would go on to win February's goal of the month competition. At just 20 years of age and with little first team experience Alex is looking like a very promising player, and I can assure fans now that I will not be encouraging Sheffield Wednesday or any other interested teams to make a bid.

In what was ultimately a rather dull game we ended up drawing 0-0 with St. Johnstone; chances were generally few and far between and any chances we did create were well saved in a Man of the Match performance from their keeper Kevin Cuthbert. Although they went down to 10 men early in the second half after Peter MacDonald was sent off for a second yellow card, we couldn't break them down and so at the end of the game the gap remained 11 points. I felt it was a good result for us however, as it meant St. Johnstone had not capitalised on their home advantage and closed the gap on us and we could push on now and try and close in on promotion. Three days later we were back to winning ways with a 2-0 win at home to Brechin thanks to a Brian Blair free kick and a tap in from Dean Walker resulting from some dreadful goalkeeping from Brechin's Lenny Pidgeley- Deano won't score an easier goal all year. What was significant about that weekend though was that Queen of the South recorded a 2-0 win over St. Johnstone which sent us 14 points clear at the top of the league and it seems now, without wanting to sound overly confident, that barring a sudden collapse in form promotion to the SPL is within touching distance which would be a remarkable achievement for this football club.

retired_ivonta

ok well im back, but things will still be updated quite slowly im afraid. hope all is well with everyone

Our last fixture in February was on paper a tricky one away to Falkirk, but we made the trip there in good form and full of confidence. It had so far been a very good month for East Fife, dropping only two points from four games played, progressing to the Scottish Cup quarter finals and extending the lead at the top of the First Division to 14 points and the Falkirk game would determine just how good the month would be. And, as it turned out, the month was rounded off in style with a convincing 0-3 win, our first at The Falkirk Stadium. With no real injury problems and the majority of our big players on good form I had named a strong lineup with Iain Chalmers the only noted absentee and we went about beating Falkirk very professionally. The bookies had this one down as too close to call and many fancied us to slip up here citing that in the midst of the furore surrounding our impending fixture with Celtic we might find it difficult to focus, but I knew by looking around the dressing room and from the level of performance put in by everyone in training that the players were still very focussed on the task at hand.

The first half proved quite difficult with the crowd on our backs as expected, and there were good chances at both ends without anyone managing to break the deadlock. I felt at half time that we had dominated but needed to keep the level of performance up if we were to break them down- Falkirk are a good side and not many teams get something from The Falkirk Stadium and I felt we needed to keep composed, defend well and wait for our chances if we were to win the game. I was delighted with our work rate however, and sure enough this hard work eventually paid off when in the 64th minute Craig Lumsden justified his inclusion in the starting lineup with some fancy footwork down the right hand side before playing an incisive through ball to Willie Stewart who made no mistake in front of goal and gave us the lead. In an attempt to get his side back into the game Rob McDonald brought on some substitutes and went for a more direct approach but we continued to dominate possession particularly in midfield, and managed to get two more goals. Jimmy Rae was the architect in both of them, setting up both Kenny Deuchar and substitute Brian Fairbairn late in the game to give us a good away victory and three valuable points. The trip back to Methil saw everyone in good spirits, tired after a busy period full of important fixtures but extremely satisfied at having round off an impressive month with another impressive and convincing win.

Scottish 1st Division - 26/2/2005
Falkirk 0-3 East Fife
Goals: W Stewart ’64, K Deuchar ’79, B Fairbairn ’82

MoM: J Rae
Attendance: 6424 – The Falkirk Stadium


GK: J Brain
DR: C Lumsden
DC: G McDonald (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart
MC: B Blair
MC: R O'Donoghue
ML: J Rae
FC: D Walker (>>B Fairbairn '67)
FC: K Deuchar

(Subs- S Colgan (GK), E Forrest, A Walker, R Baldacchino, B Fairbairn)

retired_ivonta

At the beginning of March and with the huge game against Celtic fast approaching, my assistant Baltemar Brito and I arranged to make the trip down to London to watch the Scottish Champions play in their Champions League Second Round first leg clash against Arsenal. Arsenal were hovering around third place in the Premier League at the time, but were playing well and were by no means out of the title race in England. There were some intriguing games in this phase of the tournament this season, Manchester United entertaining Bayern Munich, Rangers against Juventus and Borussia Dortmund up against Real Madrid to name a few, but it was exciting and quite strange to be watching such a big game as part of a scouting mission on a side that we, lowly East Fife would soon be playing. Strange, but in a good way mind you.

Celtic played a 3-5-2 formation with Stephen Crainey, soon to be joining Piacenza on a pre-contract agreement, Bobo Balde and Joos Valgaeren given the task of stopping Arsenal’s front line of Jeremie Aliadiere and Thierry Henry. Umit Davala started on the right hand side of a five man midfield with Messrs Thompson, Petrov, Lambert and Lennon also in the midfield. Sutton and Larsson were up front. It appeared as if Martin O’Neill was approaching the game with the intention of packing the midfield and stifling Arsenal’s attacking nature but ultimately it was to little effect as The Gunners ran out worthy 3-0 winners, Stephane Dalmat and a brace from Patrick Vieira pretty much handing Arsenal passage to the Quarter Finals. It was an entertaining game but also one that I couldn’t help but draw encouragement from. Celtic, although playing against strong opposition, were generally poor throughout and players like Sutton and Davala looked very out of sorts which surprised me somewhat. Quarter Finals were what we too now had to contend with and both myself and Baltemar came out of the game feeling that whilst it would be very difficult to beat Celtic, with the right blend of tactics, hard work and maybe a bit of luck we might just be able to get some kind of result.

Two days later we continued our good run into March by picking up a 2-0 victory at home to Ayr. Bobby Duncan and Kenny Deuchar got the goals in what was a very assured performance by the lads and it set us up very nicely for our next game in seven days time against the men from the green and white half of Glasgow.

retired_ivonta

The pre-match hype surrounding the game had, especially in Methil, reached boiling point by the day of the game. Commemorative merchandise was everywhere and it was all people were talking about in the local newspapers and on the radio- the Big Match. I understood the excitement, for it is not everyday you play Celtic in the quarter final of a cup competition, especially a club of our size, and so although it did seem a bit over the top at times, I learnt in that week to deal with all the phone calls, letters, greetings in the street, begging for match tickets and other requests that I was often confronted with. From my point of view as a manager I could handle all that, but the thing I realised was that the players would also be going through the exact same thing during the week and so, reluctant to allow such a furore to get in the way of our match preparations I placed a ban on press interviews with my players in the week up to the match, allowing only one press conference involving myself, Greig MacDonald and Kenny Deuchar. The press met my decision with murmurs of discontent and I came in for a bit of criticism but the way I saw it, the attention I was receiving made me myself require a great discipline not to get carried away, let alone the players and I needed to protect them from losing focus.

We had Celtic watched a few more times before the game in an attempt to learn as much as we could about their potential team selection against us. They won both games, at home to Dundee United and Hibs, 2-0 and 2-1 respectively but what was difficult for us to gage was who exactly they would play, and who we would use to counter their tactics. They were rotating their squad quite dramatically from game to game with only a few ever presents and it was hard for us to read just how Martin O’Neill would treat the game; easy win against lower league opposition or an important cup tie with a semi-final at stake. From our point of view the back injury Henrik Larsson had picked up leading up to the game was a great relief, but there were rumours he would still make the game so we had to be prepared for that. Celtic’s strengths were such that is was almost impossible for me and my assistant Baltemar Brito to accurately decided on exactly what we should work on in training the week before the game, but one thing I believed could prove crucial was the way in which we would handle their aerial and physical presence. With players like Chris Sutton and Martin Keown at their disposal it was obvious that we would face a physical game and I had to make sure the players were ready for that. We worked hard on improving the players stamina by incorporating an extra cross country session into our schedule, and I also placed a greater emphasis on closing down sessions with the intention of improving our tackling and positional play which I believed would both be essential if we were to be victorious against Celtic.

On the day of the game I could sense some nervousness amongst the players, but it was not a bad nervousness if there is such a thing. No, it was more like an anxiousness and eagerness to get out onto the pitch and get on with the game, a game that for some players might prove to be one of the biggest games of their careers. Everyone wanted to be involved and it was sad that I had to leave players out, but I went for the strongest lineup possible, choosing players who had proved themselves to me time and time again since I arrived at the club. I had informed those who didn’t make the team the night before the game in order to ease the disappointment rather than announcing the names on the day of the game and the team sheet was pinned on the noticeboard in our dressing room, as is standard. It read: Brain, Chalmers, Duncan, MacDonald (c), Currie, Stewart, O’Donoghue, Blair, Rae, Deuchar and Fairbairn. The one difficult decision was whether or not to include Dean Walker in the lineup, and according to my tactics I felt it a gamble to leave him out given his physical presence and aerial ability, but I felt that his form had not been of a high enough standard in recent weeks and so I decided to give Brian Fairbairn his chance upfront. His marginally better pace would be an important factor if, as I had guessed, Martin O’Neill chose to play either Martin Keown or Thomas Linke. As it turned out he played both, and I was happy at having made the decision to start with pace upfront because I felt it would be something that might give us the edge in that third of the pitch against older, slower players. Celtic went with a starting lineup of Hedman, Valgaeren, Keown, Linke, Davala, Thompson, Miller, Petrov, Lambert (c), Sutton and Maloney. I was happy not to see Henrik Larsson make the sixteen, his back injury obviously too much of a risk for O’Neill, and surprisingly they had opted for a 5-man midfield which I didn’t think they would go for in a game against us, but my assistant Baltemar Brito had insisted we practise dealing with this sort of system, confident that Celtic would continue with the formation so we had made preparations just in case. Just before the game I had a chat with Mr. O’Neill and we wished each other luck before taking our seats in the dugout in front of the raucous 2,000 odd fans inside the New Bayview. As a manager I had never seen such excited scenes- a sea of black and orange with the odd Celtic shirt here and there adorned the stadium, and the fans were in very good voice. The scene was set for a thrilling encounter, and I was interested to see just how my team would cope against such distinguished opposition.

retired_ivonta

It did not take me long to find out the answer.

I had always felt that if an opposing team adopted a 3-5-2 formation it would actually suit our game because with three centre backs marking two strikers, all it would take is for our wingers, possibly our strongest area on the pitch, to get in behind the midfield five and they would have far more space than usual due to the lack of wing backs. So the case proved for us as early as the 55th second when Bobby Duncan pushed further up the pitch and played a ball down the line for Jimmy Rae. Jimmy had been in excellent form all season and I was confident that he would thrive in the extra space he would have today if we could get the ball to him often enough. Sure enough, once he picked up the ball he had plenty of time to get to the byline and swing in a great cross which bounced around the box and found its way to Ross O’Donoghue, whose wicked shot was well saved by Hedman. The ball was cleared up the pitch, with us shooting from left to right, but Chris Sutton was almost instantly dispossessed by Duncan, who again began to cause trouble for Celtic down the left hand side. After a well worked one-two with Blair, Duncan charged down the left flank before once again playing a superb ball for Rae. This time Jimmy chose not to put in a cross but to take it himself, taking a touch to put it on his left foot before rifling a beautiful curling shot into the top right hand corner of the net. 1-0 to the Fife against Celtic in the Scottish Cup Quarter Final, and remarkably the goal had been only a minute and 45 seconds in coming. What a start I was thinking to myself, almost not believing it was true.

If I refused to believe the first one then two minutes later, I had no choice but to believe it when, having won a corner from the right hand side Ross Currie rose above everyone in the box to head the ball past Magnus Hedman and into the net for a second goal. We had made the most incredible of starts and sailed into a 2-0 lead at home to the Scottish Champions almost with ease. Celtic had hardly had a touch at this stage, and we were running wild. ‘These guys aren’t so good, I reckon we could destroy ‘em,’ was all I remember saying to Baltemar when that second goal went in. I didn’t really mean it though, fully aware that taking a 2-0 lead so early on in no way meant that we were sure of victory. There was plenty of time left.

The game settled down a bit after the second goal and I’m sure the players were just as shocked as I, and indeed everyone in the stadium was at the start we had made. Celtic saw a bit more of the ball now and began to knock the ball around a bit to make use of the extra man in midfield, and five minutes later they won their first corner of the game which Alan Thompson went to take. We had been working hard in training at containing their aerial threat and I was hopeful that we could see off their first real foray into our half in order to give the defence some encouragement and confidence, if any was needed at this stage. Thompson lofted in the cross but I was delighted when Jimmy Rae, making an excellent impact in the attacking half, also kept his concentration when it came to the defensive duties and cleared the ball away from the head of Ümit Davala. From here, Brian Fairbairn took control and played an excellent crossfield ball to Ross O’Donoghue, who was clear down the left hand side. Suddenly we were on the counter-attack as Celtic had put men forward in numbers. O’Donoghue carried on his run over the halfway line and was clean through but with Davala and Liam Miller hot on his heels. Not the quickest of players, Ross pushed on into the final third of the pitch but moved further and further away from the goal out to the left hand side to avoid being caught. Martin Keown too was now making the chase. Kenny Deuchar and Brian Fairbairn had both made runs of a good 70 yards to get themselves into a position to wait for any pass that might come, and just before he got into the penalty area O’Donoghue managed to play a low, hard cross looking for somebody in the middle to get on the end of. The ball eventually made its way to Kenny Deuchar, whose low, precise left foot volley left Hedman stranded and rounded off an excellent counter attack with a slick finish. The fans went beserk, our bench went beserk, the players went beserk and I went beserk. In ten amazing minutes we had sailed into a convincing 3-0 lead, blowing Celtic away with attacking football of the very highest quality. I knew we had the ability to do this to teams, but doing it against a team like Celtic was beyond my wildest dreams and I was struggling to compose myself, running up the touchline Mourinho style when the goal went in. The goal was also a personal milestone for Kenny Deuchar, his 50th goal for East Fife.

Possession wise it was still proving quite an even game though, and after the third goal we sat back a bit and allowed them to come onto us more. We had a few corners in this period, and could have scored a fourth but Hedman was at hand to deny us. Likewise at the other end, Shaun Maloney really should have pulled it back to 3-1 for Celtic in the 28th minute but he squandered his chance from six yards out, failing to convert a cross from Chris Sutton. That was Celtic’s best chance of the half and it meant that at half time the score was 3-0.

------

After a half time in which I tried hard not to praise the team too much for fear of making them slack off, we kicked off from left to right and set about playing good football almost instantly. Brian Fairbairn had already seen a shot well saved by Hedman when, in the 46th minute, Kenny Deuchar got to the byline and got a cross in that was cleared by Martin Keown. The clearance made its way back to Deuchar though, who played it inside for Brian Blair who hit it first time into the net from thirty yards out via a deflection off Keown himself. It was just getting better and better for us. 4-0 now and the scenes of jubilation around the ground were incredible. Personally, this was the goal that made me feel really comfortable as it completely knocked the stuffing out of Celtic. Had they managed to get it back to 3-1 early on in the second half I would have started to get nervous but by grabbing a fourth I feel we killed off the game there and then and we could all start to enjoy the game for what it was- an amazing upset. Our dominance continued even after this goal and we could easily have scored five or six, but Magnus Hedman was in fine form to deny Ross O’Donoghue twice from long range. A defensive mixup also nearly led to us extending our lead but the threat was eventually thwarted by Valgaeren. Towards the end of the game our every touch was greeted by cheers of ‘Ole’ and fans were enjoying singing ‘Its just like watching Brazil’ which, at times, wasn’t entirely inaccurate thanks to the amazing brand of football we were playing, but in the 82nd minute Celtic finally got a consolation goal to take home with them. Iain Chalmers was out of position and Ryan Baldacchino, a second half substitute on for Willie Stewart, was high up the pitch when Alan Thompson played a ball down our right hand side for David Fernandez. Fernandez, in acres of space, had a clear sight of the penalty area and whipped in a cross to the near post for Chris Sutton, who slotted home to make it 4-1. Stilian Petrov had a chance to narrow the deficit even further in the 92nd minute but he put his free kick over the bar, and with that the final whistle was called on an absolutely amazing game for East Fife.

Last year’s finalists had not only been beaten, but ruthlessly thrashed by ‘the little men from Fife’ as one newspaper had dubbed us before the game. By far my finest moment in management so far, I led the players around for a lap of honour after the game, hugging each and every one of them along the way to congratulate them on their excellent performance. The home fans stayed on in the stadium for a good hour after the game, singing, celebrating and just generally savouring the atmosphere at the scene of one of East Fife’s greatest ever victories. After the post match routine was over and the players were showered and warmed down, we all went back onto the pitch to clap the fans and thank them again for their support, to rapturous applause, and why not? Everyone inside the ground on that day had witnessed a real classic game in the history of the club and certainly one to tell the grandkids in future- I know I will. East Fife had made it through to the semi finals of the Scottish Cup, and more importantly as it seemed at this time, they had done it by thrashing Scottish Champions Celtic 4-1.


Scottish Cup Quarter Final - 12/3/2005
East Fife 4-1 Celtic
Goals: J Rae ‘2, R Currie ‘5, K Deuchar ’10, B Blair ’47 C Sutton ’83

MoM: J Rae
Attendance: 1971 – New Bayview


GK: J Brain
DR: I Chalmers
DC: G McDonald (c)
DC: R Currie
DL: B Duncan
MR: W Stewart (inj: >>R Baldacchino '55)
MC: B Blair
MC: R O'Donoghue
ML: J Rae
FC: B Fairbairn
FC: K Deuchar

(Subs- S Colgan (GK), E Forrest, A Walker, R Baldacchino, D Walker)

retired_jgirl87

Great result, gonch. KUTGW :thup: