East Fife 1 v 1 Albion Rovers 
Division 3
15th March 2003
East Fife 1 v 1 Albion Rovers
Division 3
15th March 2003
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Attendance : 780
Scorers ~ East Fife : Love (84). Albion Rovers : Mercer (15).
In football matches the role of the referee is to judge as fairly as possible and to protect players from physical assault. That’s the theory, but on this occasion Steve Conroy failed abysmally on both counts by allowing the hosts to influence decisions in the former and ignoring a number of highly questionable challenges in the latter.
That’s not necessarily to say that Rovers would have deserved to win this match had things been more even-handed - they might not, but with a fair crack of the whip, well, things might just have turned out differently. The Fifers made their tactics clear when with only fifteen seconds on the clock Craig Farnan was warned for a crude tackle on Jim Dick.
In 3 minutes, Scott Shearer made his first contribution to the afternoon’s action with a good block from a drive by former Rover Euan Donaldson. Some minutes later, a lob from Chris Silvestro found the head of Mark Yardley but the burly striker’s attempt - although taking a little awkward bounce - was carefully held by Jim Butter in the home goal.
Mercer Scores
Rovers were gradually imposing themselves on the game and in the 12th minute an artful lay-off by Jim Mercer to Silvestro allowed the midfield hustler to fire in a shot which was a yard wide. After John Bradford had been dumped to the ground without a foul being awarded, Rovers took the lead. A Bradford shot was parried by Butter into the path of the alert Mercer who wasted no time in slamming the ball into the net for the opener. The substantial visiting support yelled their approval at this early success and the league leaders were back on their heels.
Midway through the half, the Fifers’ John Herkes and Rovers’ Jordan Smith were both booked for an altercation, then A fine angled cross by Jered Stirling was met by Silvestro who again hit just past. The action immediately swung to the other end and East Fife’s top scorer Kenny Deuchar had a miss which will surely give him nightmares, for when a cross from the left reached him, an easy tap-in looked odds on to count. There were great sighs of relief among the visitors when the big man somehow managed to hoist the ball high over the crossbar from around three yards. At this stage, the Fifers were making more use of the ball, but their ineptitude inside the final third of the pitch helped Rovers’ defenders to cope with the threat.
With five minutes to the interval whistle, a superb pass by Mark Yardley left Dick with the chance to blast the ball goalwards. He did, but as has been the fate of all too many Rovers’ shots in recent weeks, it was obstructed before it could reach the goal.
Tricky Wind
With Rovers facing the tricky wind after the turnaround, there was much to admire - but generally in the midfield area. In 64 minutes Iain Diack replaced Yardley, and shortly afterwards it took an immaculate Silvestro tackle to deny the dangerous Deuchar a scoring opportunity. As Rovers re-established their hold, Kevin McAllister - having his usual influential game - found Bradford in space on the left, but the striker could only find the side net from an acute angle.
With Rovers looking to have held on to take the honours, East Fife were awarded a free-kick midway in Rovers’ half, and when the ball came in, the defence seemed a bit indecisive and substitute Gordon Love smashed it low into the net for the equaliser. However, Rovers were not done and with just two minutes remaining, Diack had a header cleared off the home line.
East Fife : Butter, Russell, Miller, Mortimer, Hall, Farnan, McLean (Love 67), Graham, Deuchar, Herkes, Donaldson (Gilbert 80). Unused Subs : Rollo, Allison, Martin.
Albion Rovers : Shearer, Dick, Stirling, Smith, Cormack, McCaig, McAllister (McLean 87), Silvestro, Yardley (Diack 64), Bradford, Mercer. Unused Subs. Paterson, McCaul, Fahey.
Referee : Steve Conroy.
Men of the Match : Chris Silvestro & Jordan Smith
