Alba Challenge Cup First Round, Bayview Stadium

East Fife 4 Brechin City 3 (after extra time)

 

 

 

 

What an entertaining and incident-filled cup tie this was - seven goals; two penalties; two red cards; six bookings; three efforts hitting the woodwork; extra time - and a superb 118th minute free kick from Bobby Linn which settled the tie. It also proved to be the first cup tie won by Steve Crawford as Manager, and gets the season off to a flier. The Fifers went behind; took the lead in the dying minutes; were pulled back; went ahead again in extra-time; were pulled back again; before taking the tie just as a penalty shoot-out looked inevitable. It was a shell-shocked City who trudged off the park at full time, deservedly beaten by a home side which stuck to playing football throughout.

 

It was the Fifers who settled first - Deland rattled the bar with a screamer of a shot, and Linn just failed to open his account after a great move and a Crawford lay-off - but it was City who opened on 29 mins when McAllister collected a header into the box, slipped past Deland, and prodded home. The visitors then comfortably kept the Fifers at bay for the remainder of the half, restricting the home side to a Linn snap shot and a Tansey belter over the bar.

 

On 50 mins, Tansey was fouled outside the box. Linn's free kick was then handled by a member of the wall - penalty. Up stepped the man himself, but Nelson got down well to parry it; Linn failing to convert the rebound. If that was a disappointment, the home fans didn't have to wait long for another penalty. Five minutes later, Johnstone broke clear into the box, and was downed by Nelson. A red card for Nelson; and the chance passed to Sloan, who made no mistake in burying the ball behind sub keeper Scott.

 

 

 

The remainder of the game can be summarised as East Fife pressing forward, taking advantage of the extra man, with a physical Brechin posing the occasional danger from breaks - as they showed in 64 mins, when McAllister turned in the box and hit the bar. Linn then shot wide; Crawford hit the bar with a delicate header from a great Linn cross; then Tansey blasted high with five minutes remaining.

 

Just as extra time looked odds-on, Crawford scored a beauty on 88 mins. He took a Linn pass, threaded through three men; and fired low into the corner. The celebrations had barely died down, however, when Brechin went up the park and equalised - Janczyk found himself with space outside the box, and curled an unstoppable shot into the far corner of Brown's net.

 

If the Fifer's heads were down as they went into extra time, it didn't show, as they re-took the lead inside two mins - Durie on the right wing saw Scott off his line, and fired a fantastic ball into the far top corner from 30 yards out. Back came Brechin, and Moyes found space in the box to lob the ball over Brown after 10 mins to equalise again. Moments later, Bryce was straight red-carded for foolishly reacting to a foul on him by McLean. East Fife kept up the pressure, however; Linn finding the net, but being pulled up for offside.

 

Into the last five minutes of extra time, and it looked like a penalty shoot-out - but not before Brown saved point-blank when McAllister looked certain to win it. Up the park went the home side; Linn ran at McLauchlan, who felled him outside the box on the left; and up stepped Linn to bury a fantastic free kick into the near corner of the net to take the Fifers deservedly into the second round. The final whistle came before anyone could score the eighth goal.

 

 

 

East Fife: M Brown, Durie, Deland, Muir, Ovenstone, Murdoch, Linn, Johnstone [Bryce 89], Crawford, Sloan, Tansey [Cargill 85]. Subs not used: Smart, R Brown, Baillie.

 

Brechin City: Nelson, McLean, Booth, McLauchlan, Moyes, Molloy, Fusco [Byers 85], Smith [Docherty 65], McAllister, Janczyk, King [Scott 55]. Subs not used: McKenna, White.

 

Referee: T Robertson

 

Booked: Molloy, Smith, McLean, Booth, Docherty, McLauchlan [BC]

 

Sent Off: Nelson [BC] Bryce [EF]