Fifers well beaten as visitors secure safety

Attention returned to the football pitch again for East Fife as they hosted Peterhead at Bayview last night.

The Methil side had been fined £11,000, £10,000 of it suspended, in the hours before the match for refusing to play their game with Clyde on Tuesday after a Bully Wee player returned a positive Covid-19 test (see above).

Things didn’t improve much on their home patch as the Blue Toon ran out deserved winners to preserve League One status for another season.

The end of the season is coming too soon for Danny Swanson, who has got better for the Fifers with each passing game.

He almost opened the scoring after just a couple of minutes but his dipping shot was blocked by Lenny Wilson.

Peterhead went on to enjoy a decent spell of possession before the Fifers took the lead out of the blue.

A mix up at the back between Wilson and Keiran Freeman saw the ball drift into the path of Aaron Dunsmore who was afforded a simple tap in.

It was a cruel blow to Jim Mcinally’s side but, to their credit, they recovered well and picked up from where they had left off, again enjoying the bulk of possession.

Peterhead were well worth their equaliser when it arrived minutes before the break.

Ben Armour found Derek Lyle and the veteran striker made no mistake from close range.

Things got even better for them just a couple of minutes after the restart.

Scott Agnew gifted a foul on the edge of the East Fife box and Andrew Mccarthy took full advantage and rattled his effort beyond Jordan Hart.

And Peterhead scored the game’s crucial fourth goal when Danny Strachan finished off yet another slick move up the park.

Mcinally’s men closed out the end of the game as they ensured League One football again next season.