East Fife v Clyde

Recap

The Bully Wee suffered a painful play-off defeat this afternoon, with a late equaliser and a dramatic penalty shoot-out deciding the contest in favour of The Fifers.

Jim Duffy made one change to the team that played the first leg on Wednesday, with Pat Scullion replacing Giuseppe Capuano in midfield.

The home side, chasing a one-goal deficit from the first leg, started well and scored the opening goal after 12 minutes when Scott McBride headed a free-kick into the bottom corner of the net.

At the other end, John Sweeney went round East Fife ‘keeper Greg Paterson, but he couldn’t find a good angle for a shot or a telling cross.

Toward the end of the first half, there was a lengthy delay in play following a collision between Paterson and Brian McQueen. Paterson eventually returned to the field, with McQueen needing further treatment in the dressing room.

Despite the temporary numerical disadvantage, The Bully Wee equalised when Scott Ferguson raced clear and neatly put the ball past Paterson from inside the box.

After the interval the match looked to be evenly poised, but Clyde soon took control of play and went on to dominate the majority of the second half. Kieran MacDonald came agonisingly close to scoring when his 25 yard shot crashed off the underside of the bar, with Pat Scullion just missing the target from a similar range.

However, with only 5 minutes left to play, a rare East Fife attack resulted in a vital goal, as Jamie Barclay couldn’t keep out Kevin Smith’s low shot.

That made the aggregate score 2-2 and the match went into extra-time, which saw both teams hit the bar from free-kicks from the edge of the box; Steven Hughes for East Fife and Kieran MacDonald for Clyde. In between those efforts, Stef McCluskey also came close when his shot was almost fumbled into the net by replacement home goalkeeper Dylan Rooney.

With no winner after 120 minutes of play, the match moved onto penalties which eventually saw 20 spot kicks taken, with Barclay making three saves.

McCluskey and Michael Daly had chances to win the tie but both were denied by Rooney, before Fraser McGhee’s unfortunate miss confirmed a cruel defeat for The Bully Wee and a fantastic travelling support.