No excuses as Fifers suffer another loss

East Fife slumped to a third straight defeat as Clyde stepped up their bid to dodge the relegation play-off.

The display at the ZLX Stadium on Saturday was another below-par performance from the Black and Gold, who appear to have lost their way after an eight-game unbeaten run following the appointment of Dick Campbell in February.

There were no excuses from coach Stuart Malcolm, who said: “It was a disappointing afternoon.

“There’s no doubt we’ve stuttered in the last couple of weeks after looking really strong in the first eight games.

“We didn’t really get started or put them under any pressure until the last three of four minutes.”

After a nervy opening, Clyde came to life on 14 minutes with a Jordan Allan shot that was saved by Allan Fleming, before Cammy Ballantyne fired over from 16 moments later.

The home side were rewarded with what proved to be the winner on 37 minutes when the East Fife defence failed to deal with a corner and Martin Rennie pounced to net from a tight angle.

It proved a wake-up call for the visitors, who had efforts from Nathan Austin and Brogan Walls in quick succession before Brian Kinnear denied them a leveller with a diving save to keep out Scott Shepherd’s shot.

The visitors also had the first effort after the break when Walls fired over, before the same player glanced a header narrowly wide.

At the other end, Craig Howie’s header drew a diving save from Fleming, who also denied Allan as Clyde searched for a clinching second.

Malcolm added: “It was a poor goal to lose. We switched off today.

“Even then we were still in the game, but we didn’t create enough to warrant taking anything from the game.” yards