Albion Rovers 1 v 5 East Fife 
Division 3
31st August 2002
Albion Rovers 1 v 5 East Fife
Division 3
31st August 2002
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Attendance : 451
Scorers ~ Albion Rovers : Bradford (23). East Fife : Gilbert (2), Nairn (5), Herkes (63), Love (75), Donaldson (79).
"Although the scoreline is there to suggest otherwise, I believe that we were as good as East Fife out there today". So said Rovers’ boss Peter Hetherston after an incident-packed match which brought him a stark reminder of the pitfalls of managing a football team. Of course, Hetherston also admitted that basic mistakes had cost his team dear and they had been taught a hard lesson.
One of the main factors in the degrading of the match from what it might have been was incompetent referee Eddie Mack, a man who sometimes seemed to be operating to a different set of rules from everyone else. Having said that, Rovers were not entirely innocent, a fact borne out by the number of cards flashed in their direction, two red and six yellow. The straight red dished out to Andy Paterson was particularly harsh as any contact with Fife defender John Ovenstone seemed to be minimal. Then, when James Dick was foolish enough to earn a second yellow to add to his first for stupid dissent, Rovers were down to nine men - and struggling.
Rovers had their two latest signings on display, Lee Duncan finding a place in the starting eleven, with John McCaig on the bench. However, the anticipated return of the injured Chris Silvestro failed to materialise.
Within five minutes of the first whistle, Rovers were shell-shocked to be two goals behind, both as a direct result of being unable to defend corner kicks. The first, in two minutes, came from a corner on the left. When the kick came over, big Scott Shearer in Rovers’ goal flapped ineffectually at the ball which fell at the feet of Gordon Gilbert who wasted no time in firing it into the net. Hardly had Rovers begun to recover from this early blow when the Fifers did it again! This time the corner was on the right and Euan Donaldson’s excellent ball was headed firmly into the net at the near post by Jimmy Nairn as Shearer and his cohorts stood in disarray. The match hardly begun and Rovers were two down through dreadful defending. Even at that stage, we knew it was going to be a long day!
To their credit, Rovers fought back from this devastating start but apart from a couple of long-range crosses, they seldom troubled Jim Butter in the visitors’ goal. In 18 minutes, East Fife might have increased their lead when Kenny Deuchar - suspiciously offside - trundled the ball to the back post where Gilbert just failed to connect. At the other end, Todd Lumsden’s 30-yard drive was not too far away before the determination of John Bradford brought reward. The striker chased ball from midfield and managed to touch it round the advancing Butter, leaving himself nothing to do but gleefully pop it into the empty goal.
In the 32nd minute, Jim Dick managed to earn a yellow card for speaking out of turn - an incident which would have more serious repercussions later on. Then another testing cross from the right was missed by Shearer who was happy to see the ball scrambled clear before a Jered Stirling corner for Rovers landed on top of the Fife crossbar. In the 38th minute, Deuchar held his head in anguish as his attempt from an excellent Herkes lay-off ballooned over the crossbar from no more than three yards out.
With the interval approaching, the fur then really began to fly and we had a mad minute. First, Paterson got his marching orders, Bradford was booked for protesting and Assistant Manager Jock McStay was banished to the stand for making a few ill-chosen comments to the officials.
Todd Lumsden and Jordan Smith then became the next crime statistics with bookings before Dick got himself involved in 61 minutes, saw yellow and red in quick succession and headed for the dressing-room. Two minutes later, the ba’ was on the slates when James Herkes took advantage of another Shearer misjudgement to head a simple third. Under the circumstances, it was amazing that depleted Rovers held out for another twelve minutes before the visitors struck again, substitute Gordon Love tapping in Deuchar’s cross. When former Cliftonhill favourite Euan Donaldson came in from the left to fire an angled drive past Shearer in 79 minutes and Charles McLean was booked a minute later, Rovers’ misery was complete and a period of searching questions was surely about to begin.
Albion Rovers : Shearer, Paterson, Stirling, Smith Cormack, Lumsden, McAllister (Coulter 46), Dick, Bradford, Duncan (McCaig 62), Mercer (McLean 65). Unused Subs : Carr, Fahey.
East Fife : Butter, Donaldson, Ovenstone ( Love 61), Farnan, Hall, Mortimer, Russell, Nairn, Herkes (Walker 77), Deuchar, Gilbert. Unused Subs : McMillan, Cunningham, Bennett.
Referee : Eddie Mack
Man of the Match : John Bradford
