Jambos ease past Fifers

EAST FIFE found themselves outclassed by Championship title hopefuls Hearts at Bayview.

Robbie Neilson fielded a full-strength line-up for the trip to Methil and included summer signings Margaro Gomis and Prince Buaben in his starting XI.

Gary Naysmith’s Fifers included Ross Campbell, the former Forfar striker, as a trialist.

The visitors dominated the opening stages and penned East Fife in their own half.

But, despite their possession, the Jambos were unable to create much in the way of clear-cut chances and only had a Sam Nicholson drive from range to boast of.

East Fife showed they possessed a threat of their own after 15 minutes when Jamie Beaton squared for Jon McShane.

But the former Hamilton striker couldn’t keep his strike down and the scores remained level.

The Jambos opened the scoring midway through the first half when a Gary Oliver shot came back off the post and Prince Buaben knocked home the rebound.

It was 2- 0 10 minutes before the break when Oliver managed to brush off his marker and head home a Billy King corner.

Fleming was by far the busier of the two keepers and was again called into action when he had to beat away another Oliver drive.

The Fifers gifted Hearts their third when Fleming was unable to clear what seemed a pretty routine passback and Osman Sow nipped in to prod the ball home.

East Fife have yet to score a goal in any of their three home friendlies but came close to netting when Kevin Smith volleyed from the edge of the box.

Neil Alexander, though, was equal to the drive.