Match Preview – East Fife v Forfar Athletic
[Thursday, 20 December 2018 14:00]
Ladbrokes League 1
Venue – Locality Hub Bayview Stadium
Date – Saturday, December 22nd – kick-off 3p.m.
Admission Prices – Adults £15 Concessions £12 (Over 60 & Students) Under 16’s £5 Parent & Child £18
League Positions – East Fife – 3rd place – 26 points from 17 games Forfar Athletic – 4th place – 24 points from 17 games
Previous results this season;- East Fife 1 Forfar Athletic 1 (Forfar Athletic won penalty shoot-out 5-4 to gain bonus point) ) on 22nd July – Betfred Cup Forfar Athletic 0 East Fife 4 on October 6th – Ladbrokes League 1
Summary – The ‘Loons’ head for Methil on Saturday to take on an East Fife side one place and two points above them in the Ladbrokes League 1 table.
The Station Park squad stretched as it was will have taken great heart from last Saturday’s derby win in horrendous conditions courtesy of Dale Hilson’s brace. The Station Park faithful were thrilled to see the popular striker get back on the scoring trail against the ‘Gable Endies’ and will be hoping it augurs well as the curtain comes down on the first half of the league campaign.
Manager Jim Weir will have little room to manoeuvre with his squad for Saturday’s game.
The good news, however, is that Darren Whyte an absentee last week through illness is fully fit and trained on Tuesday evening.
Michael Travis serves the final game of his two-match ban, while although Matty Aitken’s surgery has been a success, it will be around February time before he is back in active service.
Darren Young’s side have had a mixed month to date. It began with a 2-0 home defeat from Montrose, then they squandered a 3-0 lead to end up sharing the spoils at Bayview against Stranraer However they returned to winning ways last weekend, goals from Kevin Smith and Anton Dowds clinching a 2-0 victory at Ochilview against Stenhousemuir.
Forfar will also go into the contest with a score to settle following the Fifers impressive 4-0 success at Station Park in early October.
Hopefully, a fair number of ‘Loons’ fans will make the short trip over the Tay to lend their support to John Baird and his colleagues as they hope to bring some pre-Christmas cheer to all.
Match Officials – Referee – Grant Irvine Assistants – Ivan Stankovic & David Ingram
Supporters Note – The Supporters Bar at Bayview Stadium will be open from 12.30p.m. – all welcome
