Reaction

For the third time this season East Fife defeated “The Wasps” in a hugely disappointing game, reducing the points gap between the sides to six points in a game “The Wasps” had the opportunity to extend the gap to twelve points with only eight games left. On the evening there was not much in the game with the first half ending 0-0 after few opportunities.

East Fife captain Kevin Smith nine minutes into the second half scored the important opening goal which can be so influential in these tight matches. Four minutes later Alloa drew level after Mark Lamont had fouled Stevie Hetherington and Garry Fleming dispatched the penalty with ease 1-1

Darren Young’s side took the lead for the second time in the match after 62 minutes, when Chris Duggan scored with a fantastic strike to edge East Fife in front again.

Four minutes later Alloa were reduced to ten men, when referee Steven Kirkland produced a straight Red Card to the surprise of everyone in the ground, Garry Fleming penalised for a tackle on Kevin Smith.

Alloa threw everything at East Fife thereafter but nothing would break in the box for them on the evening and might have been punished further when East Fife struck the post in the closing minutes with Alloa pushing everyone forward looking for an equaliser.

The club have today logged an appeal with the SFA in connection with the issue of a Red Card for Garry Fleming on the evening. The appeal will be heard by the SFA at a date likely to be next week.

jim goodwin after home defeat

Very disappointed, I didn’t think there was a great deal in the game, I didn’t think either team did a great deal to win the game, the goals were poor from our point of view, we should have dealt with the first goal better at the near post area from the corner, the second goal, albeit a fantastic finish from Chris Duggan but really poor defensively from our point of view, how he got past three of our defenders is beyond me. It is what it is, we threw everything at them in the last fifteen minutes but unfortunately we didn’t quite get the break in the box.

I’m not one for slagging off officials, I spoke to the referee afterwards and my opinion was “That it was a very soft red card”. I fully expected a yellow, I thought Garry Fleming was a wee bit frustrated, the ball was in the middle of the pitch, it was a trip, not a malicious tackle, he didn’t even catch the guy, I would understand if he had caught him high up the leg or something, that would warrant a red card, but it definitely wasn’t a red card, so hopefully we have good footage of that and we might be able to appeal?

We now have big games coming up with a double header against Airdrie on Saturday and then again on Tuesday  and we certainly would not want to lose him albeit we have guys in the squad who could come in, there is not an issue there but at the same time I don’t want to lose a player if it is not justified.

We will go again on Saturday, there is no issue with team spirit, I think tonight was a game which probably deserved to end in a draw, it was a great finish for the winning goal but I don’t think there was a great deal between the teams. We are quite fortunate with the cushion we have between ourselves and teams around us, East Fife are six points behind having played one game more, Stranraer are seven points behind having also played one game more, Airdrie aren’t out of it either. We feel tonight we have allowed East Fife back in the race for a Play-Off spot and I have just reminded the players of last season when Brechin City came with a last minute run and you know where it led to, they were nowhere near 4^th place. So I don’t want our lads sitting in a comfort zone thinking that we are good for a Play-Off place, but there is still a lot of football still to be played, there are 8 games left and we have to play every one of them now like a Cup Final if we are to clinch a Play-Off position at the end of this season.