Naysmith says time for team to ‘shape-up’

Gary Naysmith admitted he and his East Fife players have their future at stake unless the club can reverse a run of poor results.

The Fifers are without a win in the league since September and have lost five from their last seven.

That’s seen them plummet to second bottom of League One and at risk of being dragged into a relegation battle come the end of the season.

Their most recent defeat came at the weekend, when Gus MacPherson’s Queen’s Park left Bayview with all three points thanks to a 2-1 win.

Naysmith pulled no punches after the match, saying the side must reverse its fortunes before drastic changes have to be made.

He said: “I’ve mollycoddled the players a bit and said they’ve been playing well, but somewhere along the line it has to stop.

“And if it doesn’t, it’ll either be other players coming in or me going out the door.

“They need to shape up and they need to start doing better.

“We didn’t deserve to lose the game, but how many times have I said that now?

“The reason we’ve lost is because Queen’s Park have defended better than us. Individuals are not doing their jobs.”

It was an afternoon to forget for the Methil men against a side they seem to struggle against.

The visitors grabbed the opening goal from a corner. Jamie McKernon’s delivery was decent and the first to react to it was Adam Cummins who beat Mark Hurst.

East Fife grabbed an equaliser out of the blue when Mark Lamont’s drive was turned past Willie Muir by Jamie Insall.

However, Kyle Wilkie gave away a penalty when he took a tug at Burns’ shirt inside the box.

Ross Millen stepped up and chipped home a slick spot kick.

They need to shape up…

GARY NAYSMITH