The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Gers’ slick strikes punish East Fife
Boss Young proud of the efforts of battling Methil men
Darren Young could take plenty of positives from his side’s 3-0 defeat to Rangers – but admits that missed opportunities cost his side a cup shock.
The Fifers went toe to toe with the Gers and put in a good battling performance.
They had chances to get on the scoresheet but their failure to do so was punished by some slick Gers finishing.
Young said: “You’re always disappointed with a defeat – but we matched them at times. Again we had chances and we’ve been saying that over the past few games.
“Aaron Dunsmore has a good chance and we have a couple of others at 0-0 and 1-0 which we didn’t take and they end up punishing you.
“It was a great goal from Defoe in the first half but the other two were really disappointing. It’s frustrating because we’ve been doing so well.
“But we gave it our all and there was no disgrace.”
Young fielded a starting 11 with attacking intent, lining up with both Anton Dowds and Ryan Wallace in attack.
Steven Gerrard shuffled his pack from their midweek win over Midtjylland, making 10 changes to his line-up.
The visitors started the game well with Joe Aribo and Jordan Jones dominating the middle of the park.
East Fife were made to weather an early storm but they managed to come through it and created the best chance of the opening exchanges.
Liam Watt whipped in a terrific cross to the back post which picked out Aaron Dunsmore.
The midfielder had a clear sight of goal but couldn’t squeeze his effort past Wes Foderingham.
Rangers took note of the let-off and went on to grab the opening goal.
A neat through ball from the Gers midfield found Defoe on the edge of the box.
His sublime first touch took him past Ross Dunlop and clear on goal.
The former England striker made no mistake from close range.
It was tough on East Fife but they dusted themselves down.
Ryan Wallace and Anton Dowds were working hard in attack but getting little change out of the Rangers backline.
Defoe was again at the centre of things for Rangers when he came close to adding to his tally a couple of minutes after the restart.
But Rangers wouldn’t have to wait long for their second goal – although there was more than a touch of good fortune about it.
Jordan Jones managed to cut a dangerous ball back into the Fifers’ six yard box where Filip Helander was waiting to pounce.
He did enough to force Ross Dunlop to bundle the ball past his own keeper.
In the closing minutes the outstanding Aribo got the goal his performance merited when he stabbed a loose ball home from close range.