Ruthless Fifers make wasteful Loons pay

EAST FIFE: Visitors play well, but late Scott Agnew goal keeps Bayview men in touch with second-placed Raith

EAST FIFE 1 FORFAR 0

East Fife maintained their grip on third place in League One after grinding out a win against Forfar Athletic.

To their credit the visitors, who would have leapfrogged the Fifers into third with a win, showed up well and could consider themselves unlucky not to take a point from the game.

But a lack of composure in the final third let them down, and they were punished by the ruthless home side who wrapped up the win late on with a Scott Agnew drive.

Darren Young’s men now travel to second-placed Raith Rovers on Saturday with their kingdom rivals firmly in their sights.

Young said: “Scott Agnew has done brilliantly and has popped up on seven or eight occasions now and done that.

“I’m delighted with the clean sheet and the three points.

“We rode our luck at times and in the first half they were maybe the better team and had more possession.

“Defensively, though, we were brilliant and worked hard not to let them get in behind us.

“We let them play in front of us and made it hard for them to break us down. We tweaked it after the break and brought a couple of boys on to try and get into the game.

“Scott Agnew then has a wee moment of magic and smashes it into the corner.”

Forfar started well and had a decent early chance when John Baird’s cross was just out of Dale Hilson’s reach.

East Fife were struggling to create too much in front of goal, and only really had an Agnew effort which clipped the outside of the post to boast of.

It was the visitors who were looking the bigger threat going forward, but for all their possession couldn’t find a way through a well-drilled Fife backline.

Boss Young wasn’t long in changing things after the restart, and the introduction of Kevin Smith and Scott Linton shifted the momentum of the game in East Fife’s favour.

It took until the closing minutes, but the hosts did eventually get their noses in front, and in some style.

Agnew picked up the ball on the edge of the Forfar box and, with the visiting defence backing off, punished them by curling a sublime effort into the bottom corner of the net.

Station Park boss Jim Weir admitted his side had been wasteful in front of goal. He said: “We were untidy in the last third. We’re always looking for the perfect goal at times.

“Everything was a threaded pass or taking too many touches when all you want to do is shoot.

“We do a lot of shooting drills but nobody seemed to want to shoot. Even the shots we did have, we didn’t make their keeper work enough.

“You’re judged on the end result and we’ve lost another game we should never have lost.”

Scott Agnew has done brilliantly and has popped up on seven or eight occasions now and done that. DARREN YOUNG

Picture: SNS. Scott Agnew was on target as East Fife took the three points.