East Fife v Forfar Athletic – match preview

It is ‘derby’ day in the cinch league2 on Saturday first and for the ‘Loons’ this means a third meeting of the season with East Fife.

Both previous fixtures have ended in a draw. At Bayview in late September, Alan Trouten gave the home side an early lead, Stuart Morrison getting the 80th minute equaliser for the visitors.

Then on a day when a duck would have been struggling with the overhead conditions at Station Park in late December, the ninety minutes plus of hard fought action between the sides failed to produce a goal.

To be fair despite being down to ten men in the first period following Josh Skelly’s red card, the home side dominated proceedings against what was on the day an injury hit visiting eleven.

Ray McKinnon’s side go into Saturday’s contest on the back of a six game unbeaten run which has yielded twelve points. The manager is naturally delighted with the progress his side have made in recent times and admits that they will head to Methil in confident mood, but certainly not over confident!

Ray was delighted with the overall performance at New Douglas Park on Tuesday night which yielded another vital three point haul. He was especially pleased with the manner in which the squad worked hard to quickly put the disappointment of the second half showing in last Saturday’s amazing game with Peterhead to ‘bed’ in emphatic fashion.

Again Ray is able to report a reasonably clean bill of health although Finn Robson replaced at the interval against the ‘Bully Wee’ will require a late assessment. Seb Ross however took part in a full training session on Thursday night and returns to the match day squad.

The home side are now under the guidance of Scotland’s most experienced manager Dick Campbell who took over the reins at Bayview just under three weeks back. Former Athies captain and manager Stuart Malcolm recently joined Dick’s backroom staff in a first team coach role.

The new management team have to date overseen a 1-1 draw at home to league leaders Stenhousemuir and last weekend a 2-0 away win at Bonnyrigg courtesy of goals from Brian Easton and Alan Trouten.

Both teams now sit on the same points tally with the Fifers in front courtesy of a two goal differential.

This all adds up to undoubtedly an exciting challenge for both teams and their supporters come 3p.m. on Saturday.

The referee on Saturday is Lloyd Wilson who will be taking charge of a Forfar fixture for the first time this season.

Admission arrangements and prices and prices at Bayview are as follows;-

With a couple of exceptions tickets must be purchased online in advance of the match at https:eastfifefc.info/tickets

Admission prices are as follows;-
Adults £18
Concession (over 65) £14
Under 16’s £5
They do offer concessionary parent/child tickets which are not available online, but must be procured on match day in advance of kick-off from the reception area at the ground.
Parent/one child £21
Parent/two children £24

Saturday’s other cinch league2 fixtures;- Dumbarton v Stranraer (2p.m.ko), Peterhead v Elgin City, Stenhousemuir v Clyde, The Spartans v Bonnyrigg Rose