Young praises never-say-die spirit of side after comeback

East Fife manager Darren Young praised the never-say-die spirit of his side after a remarkable comeback at Bayview.

With 12 minutes of the game left, the Fifers were 4-2 down to Albion Rovers.

With fans streaming out of the ground, the Methil men roared back to take three points with the last kick of the game. Young said: “It was unbelievable. “We started well and got an early goal.

“But we were pegged back, which is disappointing.

“I think all the goals we lost were disappointing. There were another two from set-pieces and individual mistakes,” he said.

“But I was delighted with the character and spirit of the side.

“We try to instil that into the players during the week in training. It all came out in the end with a terrific finish.

“We were confident that if we kept getting balls in the box we’d score. We stuck with it because we have faith in the players.”

East Fife got off to a flying start with Chris Duggan latching on to Mark Docherty’s through ball and lobbing Graham Bowman.

Jason Marr levelled matters when he headed home a Sean Higgins corner.

The Fifers went into the break with the advantage when Docherty netted from the spot after Duggan was body checked by Alan Reid.

Reid went from villain to hero in the second half when he headed home another Higgins delivery.

The visitors grabbed the lead when sub Joao Victoria, who had a stunning impact, took advantage of slack East Fife defending to roll the ball into an empty net.

Rovers looked to have gone a long way to sealing the win when Victoria turned creator for Alan Trouten to net from six yards.

However, Greg Hurst netted a third for the home side almost straight from the restart and rattled Brian Kerr’s men.

East Fife grabbed an equaliser in the first minute of injury time. Scott Linton’s free-kick was sublime, with the former Clyde left-back finding the top corner.

With ref Craig Charleston checking his watch and getting ready to bring the game to an end, the Methil men went storming up the park. A ball into the box was met by Kevin Smith, who in turn fed Hurst a few yards out.

The on-loan St Johnstone striker hit his finish high into the net.