Club 108/285 – East Fife

Match: East Fife v Stenhousemuir
Date: 10/02/2024
Venue: Bayview Stadium, Methil
Competition: SPFL League Two (Tier 4)
Entry Fee: £18
Travel: £13.35
Miles completed today: 144
Total miles remaining: 28948

This is the weekend where I considered not bothering going to a game at all. Another mammoth north trip planned… then I saw the weather warnings. If you’re Scottish, aren’t you sick of them too? As it turned out, the game I had planned up north actually went ahead but there was logic in my decision to head to just about the only part of Scotland unaffected – the east side of Fife.

For as long as I can remember, East Fife have been a lower league club in Scotland but if you delve into their history, then of clubs around them you’ll notice a huge difference.
East Fife won the Scottish Cup in 1938 when they defeated Kilmarnock 4-2 in a replay at Hampden Park in front of 92000 fans! They were the only team to win the cup outside of the top flight until Hibernian equalled the record in 2016. Still, it’s a pretty exclusive club.
If that wasn’t impressive enough, the club also boast 3 League Cup wins and have never lost a final! Only Ross County have repeated the feat but they’ve only been in the final once!
In terms of major honours (top flight, cup, league cup) East Fife have the most outside the top two divisions in the country. It’s easy to underestimate them as a lot of these achievements are outside living memory for most but they demand a whole lot of respect.

Preview

Let’s address the elephant in the room aka the reason I’m here. Just like every club in the pyramid, East Fife were always on my radar at some point but today marks a new dawn. One of biggest characters in Scottish football has taken the reigns and today is Dick Campbell’s first game in charge.
He took Arbroath from League Two to the Championship and left the club in a better state than when he joined. I’d argue East Fife are a similar stature and club potential to Arbroath – so why not?
The one obstacle in their way today is Stenhousemuir. The Warriors are 15 points clear of second place and 30 clear of East Fife. It’s the one game Campbell would rather have avoided today.

Odds:
East Fife 11/4
Draw 5/2
Stenhousemuir 10/11

An East Fife win would be some buzz but I fear Stenny may strut their stuff and take the points. Did I mention that the Stenny manager is ex East Fife gaffer Gary Naysmith? As if the game needed another plot line!

The Ground

I reckon I’ve been to Bayview at least 10 times but not for a few years. There’s astro now instead of grass and the power station is gone from the sky line. I don’t use this platform to criticise clubs but I feel there’s 2 things worth mentioning this time round. Firstly £18 entry for the fourth tier of Scottish football is a bit steep – the most expensive ticket in the division too! In days past you’d rock up and sit wherever you like and there’s probably still an element of that but when buying tickets online you’re given a seat number. My seat was occupied… by the season ticket holder to which the seat belonged. How do you manage to sell the same seat twice? I triple checked the ticket and I was definitely in the right place.
There is one major difference I noticed from 10/15 years ago to now and that’s the crowd. The home end of Bayview is more or less full. The Campbell effect is surely a small factor but it looks as if more locals have gotten behind the club in recent years and that’s great to see.
There’s one stand here, it’s all seated and I like that it gives you a view over Leven rather than the industrial estate behind. The waves are crashing off the promenade wall in the distance but surprisingly, there’s little wind and it’s not that cold. From my previous experiences at Bayview, this is a rarity.
Interestingly, East Fife walk out to Telstar by the Tornados. How many other clubs come out to a song with no words, that must be unique? Certainly a cool quirk.

The Game

In the lower reaches of the pyramid I’ll always look at the lineups for players I recognise. I’ll give myself some credit here, I have myself down as a bit of an SPFL expert but after reading Brian Easton’s wikipedia I learned he played for Burnley under Eddie Howe and lost his place in the team to Kieran Tripper. Mind = Blown!
Fear became reality when Stenhousemuir’s Ross Meechan’s head met a corner to put the visitors one up inside two minutes! I really sympathise with East Fife here as I’m less than convinced it was actually a corner, as were the players and fans around me. However, goal aside East Fife were actually the better team in the first half. In fact, throughout the game I can’t recall Allan Fleming having a to make a save for the rest of the game. The only question was whether East Fife could grab themselves a goal and they answered it with a great goal. Captain Alan Trouten’s reverse pass found the run of Nathan Austin and as he usually does, stuck the ball past Darren Jamieson for a level game just before half-time.
In the second half Stenhousemuir were the better team and East Fife were really hanging on but the Warrior’s couldn’t quite create the clear cut chance they needed. In the end EF almost stole it but it wasn’t to be.

Full Time: East Fife 1-1 Stenhousemuir

MOTM

Picking the goalscorer is the easy option but there’s a lot more to Nathan Austin’s game than that. At times he fed off scraps and made excellent use of inconsistent service. He’s great in the air, quick, strong and looks that wee bit more technical than most of the other’s on the park. He’s a local lad with 55 goals in 133 games over 3 spells with the club – I think it’s safe to say he’s a cult hero in black and gold.

Summary

I reckon every single East Fife fan who marched towards Bayview at 2:45 would’ve taken a point before the game and a draw was probably a fair reflection. East Fife are in a strange position. There’s still so much of the season left to play yet they find themselves in ‘no man’s land’ where they’re a million miles away from relegation but also way off the play-offs. However, with Dick Campbell’s track record, the next few seasons could be exciting for East Fife fans after matching the best team in the division on debut.
The ground has largely remained the same since it was built 26 years ago but it’s interesting to see just how much the landscape has changed around it.
It’d be great to look back on this day and say “I witnessed the start of something” as East Fife look optimistically to the future. I hope that comes true.

Club 107/285 – Fraserburgh United

Match: Fraserburgh United v Nairn St Ninian
Date: 03/02/2024
Venue: College Park, Fraserburgh
Competition: North Junior Premier League (Tier 6)
Entry Fee: £5
Travel: £40.45
Miles completed today: 398
Total miles remaining: 29092

It’s time to crank up the mileage! I say it all the time, but it’s often more convenient to stay close to home.
I’m sick of the recent storms and rain battering off the window as you wake up every morning – it’s been relentless since the turn of the year.
Finally, it’s football day and it’s time to get the map out and plan a near 400 mile round trip. 

Fraserburgh isn’t exactly new territory. I did the beautiful Bellslea and watched the Broch lift their first Highland League titles in 20 years but just a short walk south sits College Park, the home of Fraserburgh United. That’s where I’m headed this time. 

I don’t know a whole lot about United. I scoured the internet and found that during lockdown the players worked together to run for 24 hours to raise money for the foodbank. They targeted £500 and raised £4500! Great stuff. 
In a way it’s a shame as Fraserburgh is a place I’d like to have more time to have a wander round but as I arrived in the town it was too close to kick off and I made it just in time. There’s no train station past Aberdeen which I’ve never understood but the Broch is still fairly accessible compared to some other trips I’ll have to plan. 

Preview

The fixture is a league match between Fraserburgh United v Nairn St Ninian. I’ve never seen Nairn’s junior side play before but just a few trips ago United were the away side and stole the show at Ellon. There’s a gulf between the sides based on the table, Nairn have picked up just 6 points in 15 games! 
Fraserburgh are newly promoted and currently sit 5th in the table. There are games in hand all over the shop and I expect they’ll drop a couple of places in the coming weeks due to this but for such a young squad I’m sure they’ll be delighted with the season so far.
Evidence would point to a home win but the sides drew 3-3 earlier in the season and Nairn put them out the cup just a few weeks before. 

The Ground

I’ve found that the setups in this league are fairly similar. Usually a fenced off pitch with plenty of space and this one is no different. The bonus ball is a small stand they’ve erected which is split evenly as ‘home’ and ‘away’.
I’m not one to bang on about scran too much but I reckon at £2, you can get one of if not THE cheapest steak pie in Scottish football and it’s a solid 9.5 out of 10 at least. A proper butcher pie too, none of this mass produced nonsense! 

The Game

I may have a little rest bite from the copious amounts of rain over the last few weeks but there’s no escaping the wind – especially in the north east. It wasn’t THAT bad, but it still had a big effect on the game.
I assume Nairn won the toss as the teams swapped ends and the away side would be shooting into the wind in the first half and for the opening periods of the game, they looked the more dangerous.
As United put a free kick into the box, the ref pointed to the penalty spot as Grant was adjudged to have pushed Norris. When I say adjudged, I mean he definitely did as I saw it and credit to the ref for spotting it too. Norris stepped up himself to take but his effort was saved by MacKenzie. It wasn’t a bad penalty by any means, just a great save.
Nairn’s MacDonald will be devastated as his Wayne Rooney-seque top bins volley was ruled out for offside and again, I’m with the ref (although I’ll admit to not being in the best position to see it). 
Half time and the score was 0-0. I thought that’d suit Fraserburgh as they’ve survived playing into the wind and can use this to their advantage.
And would you believe it… the wind calmed down in the second half! It still made a difference, but not as much. 
That did not stop the home side from taking the lead as Norris scored direct from a free kick out wide. It’s one of them where you aim for the back post and it goes through everyone. He meant it, but I wouldn’t necessarily say he was shooting. Nairn were complaining about a foul on the keeper but I didn’t see it either way to call.
1 soon became 2 as keeper Tait’s kick caught the wind and put West in behind. Dealing with a pacey, bouncing ball isn’t easy and I didn’t expect him to catch it on the half volley and find the corner – what an effort!
I thought that’d be game over but to Nairn’s credit they pushed hard and got their reward as a deflected shot fell to Duffty in the box with his back to goal and his turn and finish halved the deficit. 
Fraserburgh certainly weren’t comfortable for the final few minutes, but Nairn couldn’t create another chance either.

Full time: Fraserburgh United 2-1 Nairn st Ninian

Summary

I think both teams will walk away from this one fairly content. Fraserburgh have 3 points and won in testing conditions whilst Nairn matched them for a lot of the game. There certainly didn’t look like there was 19 points between the sides based on this one. I’m sure they can take some encouragement from that. 
That’s me seen Fraserburgh United play twice, and they’ve won twice. I’m available for hire by the way. 
I keep saying that everywhere I’ve been has a unique quirk. For one of the greatest, and cheapest pies in Scottish football – College Park is the place to be.