For the fifth time this season, we take on East Fife this Saturday as we welcome the Fifers to Ochilview. The results have seen the Warriors win 2 and draw 2, with one of those victories taking place in the Scottish Cup earlier this season.
Similarly to the Warriors, East Fife won 3-2 at the weekend with a late goal from Alan Trouten snatching the 3 points at Bayview. Goals from Nat Wedderburn, Matty Yates and Ross Forbes helped the Warriors pick up the 3 points at Galabank on Saturday.
Saturday’s meeting will be the 177th between the sides. The Warriors have picked up 60 wins, with 38 of the matches finishing level. The split between home and away matches is even with 88 a piece. At home, the Warriors have won 37 and lost 31 against the Fife based side.
As both teams enter their final quarter of matches, they’ll both be looking to leave with the 3 points. A win will see the Warriors remain in third but move 5 points clear of the visitors, whilst a win for East Fife will see them leapfrog the hosts.
Ahead of Saturday’s match, the website caught up with Gary Naysmith to gather his thoughts leading into the game:
“We’re going in on the back of a good result at Annan. It was a difficult fixture so to come back with the 3 points was great. But you’re quite quickly onto the next game. East Fife are on a good run of form. Over the last 5 games, we’ve took 10 points, they’ve took 10 points. Our incentive is to try and get further away from them in the table. Their incentive is to try and over take us, so it’s a big game for both clubs. I think every week that you speak to me now, the games are going to become bigger and bigger. So it’s important we handle that in the right way, treat East Fife with respect they deserve. They’ve definitely got a lot stronger of a squad than they did at the start of the season. After showing them the respect, we need to focus on ourselves and how we can go about hurting them.”
After a run of 3 matches in 8 days, it must have been good to get the squad back in for a Tuesday night training session?
“It was a hard week for everyone, you know, mentally, physically for the players and for us the staff a lot of video work and preparation to get the players the information on the teams that we are going to play. So quite a busy week.
6 points out of 9 was a really good return. With a wee bit of luck at Dumbarton it could have been 7 out of 9 but you know in a roundabout way, it was probably a draw all day long down at Annan then Forbes hits that wonder strike. I’m a firm believer that everything balances itself out over the course of the season.
It was good to get training on Tuesday night, we had 2 or 3 players carrying knocks and we had Jacob playing with Hibs and Kian was playing with Motherwell to get some game time. So we had quite reduced numbers on Tuesday but we’ve got everyone training tonight (Thursday). So as it stands we’ve got a fully fit squad to choose from on Saturday which is great for a manager.”
We would like to thank iSport Media for sponsoring Saturday’s match ball and also thank Patlock for sponsoring Saturday’s match.
MATCHDAY INFORMATION
Kick-off: 3pm
Match Entry: You can pay at the gate at Ochilview using cash. If you need to pay by card, you should purchase your ticket online here.
- Adults: £14.00
- Concessions: £9.00
- Child: £5.00
Getting Here: Click here for details of how to get to Ochilview by car or train.
Ochilview Guide: Click here for your one stop shop for all info that you’ll need for a trip to Ochilview
Referee: Scott Lambie
Assistants: David Dunne & Mark Harris
LEAGUE INFORMATION
Albion Rovers vs Stranraer
Annan Athletic vs Elgin City
Dumbarton vs Forfar Athletic
Stenhousemuir vs East Fife
Stirling Albion vs Bonnyrigg Rose
