East Fife 5-1 Clyde

Clyde’s disappointing start to the season continued in Methil with their third league defeat on the trot against East Fife.

Marley Redfern and Dom Docherty started in favour of Lee Connelly and the suspended Logan Dunachie as Ian McCall made a double change to the lineup against Bonnyrigg last time out.

Clyde had the first chance of the afternoon in the eighth minute when Liam Scullion squared the ball on the outskirts of the box to Redfern, who dodged past opposition defenders only for the ball to narrowly miss the target from close range.

However, the Fifers opened the scoring after 13 minutes on the clock. A free-kick was launched into the box and nodded down into the path of Nathan Austin, who placed a header beyond Kinnear and into the net.

The Fifers doubled their advantage in the 21st minute. Docherty was deemed to have brought down a player in the penalty area with Trouten making no mistake by converting his spot kick into the bottom right corner.

Shortly after the half hour mark, Austin came close to securing a brace when Healy sent a curling shot from the edge of the box and into the goalmouth, but the striker’s effort skimmed the bar. At the other end, the visitors were attempting to infiltrate the hosts’ box but to no avail after Scullion reached the end of Redfern’s cross, but he struggled to get his shot away.

With three minutes until the interval, The Bully Wee were awarded a penalty after Docherty was fouled in the box with Redfern firing the ball past McFarlane into the top right corner. Despite that, in a frantic end to the first half, the visitors found themselves two goals behind, courtesy of Austin. A failure to clear the ball allowed the forward to catch the Clyde defence floundering and rocket a curling strike into the target.

East Fife spurned the first chance after the restart in the 52nd minute after Austin charged into the box and placed the ball in the path of Healy, but his shot was blocked by the Clyde defence. Austin then had the ball in the net for the hosts immediately afterwards, but it was ruled for offside.

The match sparked back into life with under 15 minutes remaining as the Fifers added their fourth. McManus sent the ball over the box to Trouten, who struck a home a header from close range. Clyde’s fractured defence was left lying bare in the 81st minute when Trouten squared the ball to Laaref from inside the box, enabling him to complete the rout by slotting the ball beyond Kinnear.

POST-MATCH REACTION: Ian McCall’s comments