Livi v East Fife

Du da da, this is the one we should be looking to set right after the abysmal defensive performance at Bayview, absolutely must clear the lines when they punt balls straight down our throat and not give Insall the chance to get the ball off us and score for fun again, wee fecker had our number in the last game.

Should have enough in us to beat them comfortably but I thought the same the last time we played them and they took us apart with direct play firing every ball they could straight into our box and pouncing on our defenders when we tried to get the ball down and control it, get that sorted and we'll win by a goal or 3.

Should be right up for this to make amends for the last time, Livi 3-1 East Fife, fg 14 mins.

The wins over Alloa and Brechin will be distant memories if we don't sort this lot out.
I expect them to park the bus and scrap for everything. We have yet to draw a match this season but this could be the first. That said, 9 goals for and two clean sheets in the last 3 games, so let's give these Fifers a right seeing to.

Liv 4 East Fife 1 fg 23 mins

I'd love us to win this one if for no other reason than the memory I have of Insall grinning as Lithgow was sent off.
That was a strange game. We were so awful in the first half. The strong wind and the artificial pitch didn't help. The ref as usual gave us nothing and East Fife dropped like flies every time anyone as much as brushed their arms. I hope they are not going to be our bogie team (a la Dumbarton) this season.

If Lithgow is suspended then either bring in Mullin or Neill Morgyn into the defence. No need to change the 4-4-2 that Hopkin has been using recently.

2-1 Livi. FG 51 mins.

I'd bring in Neill, still don't see how this ban can be right though, unless they're saying the Albion game doesn't count cause they didn't tell us to drop him for it, and if that's the case then they're taking the piss.

Hopefully the referee tommorow wont be as totally inept than the last one we had against them.they will no doubt be out to prove that the last result against us was no fluke although we know different.The confidence running through the team must be at the highest weve had for a long time and thus i expect as ive said before if we get that early first we can put this lot to the preverbial sword and send them back over the Forth with their tails between their legs.wont be a stroll in the park but if we apply ourselves properly i see no reason why i shouldnt be enjoying a post match pint then watching the fireworks.Do it again Livi!!!

3-1 Livi, FG 25 mins.

I tend to agree on 3 - 1 based on the fact that we should have four at the back and the inclusion of Rafa will hopefully top the high balls in to their giant defenders.

I going for a first goal of 42 minutes.

2-0 Livingston, FG 42 mins.

Extremely satisfying result, a reverse of the first game with the scoreline and sending's off.

Neill came in as CB for Lithgow and did a great job, kept the rest of the team the same and didn't interrupt our rhythm at all (GIRUY SFA).
Thought Pittman was superb in midfield breaking up play, I think since De Vita has come in he's been sacrificed as an attacking midfielder to drop back a bit but he's doing a great job.
Buchanan getting another two goals is on fire and Mullen is such an improved player this season, strong and never stops hassling the opposition defenders, getting their keeper sent off and a penalty to boot, was really wanting him to get a goal to reward him for his performance.

Lovely free kick by Miller too, he's got a great strike on him.

Bring on The New Saints.

Very pleasing especially in the light of what happened at their place earlier in the season.

We won but I wasn't that impressed overall. Crighton definitely plays better when he has Lithgow beside him. East Fife glad the better of the first half and there was a spell when we couldn't clear our box and kept conceding corners. I thought they would come and sit in but while they were well organised defensively they also caused problems going forward.

Having said that, our opener was the best move of the first half and gave us a lift going into the break. The quick second was a beauty from Miller who made it look easy. At 2-0 I thought we would kick on and get another couple but East Fife came back at us, their scorer did well but our defence should have done better. Clear cut pen but I thought you no longer get red cards when it's a pen?

Miller was MotM for me, closely followed by Pittman. I thought we could have piled it on a bit when they went down to 9 but our shooting at that stage was poor.

Great result especially with Brechin and Alloa also winning.

This was a proverbial banana skin for us so the performance wasn't as important as the result, both Alloa and Brechin had easier opponents and were expected to win, it was important for us to get the 3 points and stay top.

Didn't think East Fife ever looked like scoring, their shooting was terrible and their goal came from nowhere, but it was good to see we didn't crumble and kept on going to get another goal and make it  another comfortable win, 3 goals in each of our last 4 wins is pretty damn good going.

Also don't forget we had the midweek trip to Belfast and back, was also good seeing we can rest up the likes of Mullin and give Currie his first league game this season.

I agree the result was more important than the performance but would have liked to see us hitting the target when they were down to 9 men, another goal or two wouldn't have gone amiss

Feck that it would've screwed up my 3-1 prediction.

I know, but I had 4-1

Tough match for the Lions yesterday i thought especialy the first half.Second half different story although to be fair even when they went down to 9 men they were still a threat which is a credit to them.End of the day its another 3 points in the bag for the Lions against a very physical team.Buchanon is on fire at the moment and has hit a purple patch which i hope continues for many a week to come.Thought Rafa and Pitman strolled through this game which is great to see and so enjoyable to whatch.Bit of an unknown entity are the Welsh mob but if we play the way weve been playing recently we me must have a hell of a chance to progress to the semis in this one .Thought on that one later in the week .once again well done to Hoppy and the boys for yesterday and hopefully keep it going for as long as possible.

Highlights are up on EFtv, commentary is hilariously biased, doesn't even try to be slightly impartial.  

https://vimeo.com/190480336

Lovely bit of play for our first goal, Buchanan starts the move off and then gets on the end of it to score. Looks like Mullen was pushed for our free kick, and Miller puts it away brilliantly. Can see the keeper deliberately taking a kick at Mullen for our pen. Half the entertainment is listening to the East Fife commentator too, some of his comments are brilliant.

I think you overhyped the "commentary" - he doesn't really say that much. He puts more effort into describing East Fife moves but then he knows his team better than he knows ours. He was right to say our 1st goal was against the run of play and he was as bemused as the rest of us over the second red card, which was presumably for verbals. The replay of McManus being challenged just before it might be a bit of Fife tinted specs as there was nothing in it but he claims it was a push in the back. Apart from that I can't say I noticed anything particularly biased or laughable. He's not very good but he's a fan with a mic so that's not surprising.

Someone said the East Fife player pushed the referee for not awarding a free kick after the cameras had moved on

Can really see from the highlights why the double jeopardy rule over red card and penalty wasn't applied as the goalkeeper's challenge was deliberate foul play.

Not sure I would say the first goal was against the run of play; remember East Fife had one shot on target the entire game.

The BBC stats which, for a change, I agree with:

Possession
Home 52%  Away 48%
Shots
Home 13 Away 5
Shots on Target
Home 4 Away 1
Corners
Home 5 Away 9
Fouls
Home 12 Away 18

But dreadful goalkeeping by Kelly, by the way, for their goal (although Creighton should have done better as well).

D, East Fife spent most of the first half in our half and a large chunk of it in our box with about 5 corners in quick succession, dominating possession and territory (which they did) doesn't always translate to shots on goal. We were poor in the first half, didn't use the ball well enough when we had it and were much too ponderous... Until the move which brought the goal. So regardless of statistics our goal came against the run of play.

Bertie Bassett wrote:I think you overhyped the "commentary" - he doesn't really say that much. He puts more effort into describing East Fife moves but then he knows his team better than he knows ours. He was right to say our 1st goal was against the run of play and he was as bemused as the rest of us over the second red card, which was presumably for verbals. The replay of McManus being challenged just before it might be a bit of Fife tinted specs as there was nothing in it but he claims it was a push in the back. Apart from that I can't say I noticed anything particularly biased or laughable. He's not very good but he's a fan with a mic so that's not surprising.

Nah it was just some of the stuff he said, I burst out laughing listening to it, or the stuff he deliberately didn't say/ignored. Like the lovely bit of play leading up to our goal, even taking off my Livi tinted specs i'd say that was the best move and goal o the game, but he didn't say anything about it, then gushed all over their goal, which was well finished off but it was just a punt up into the box, his gushing over the goal and saying you wont see a better goal than that cracked me up. All the more funny when he didn't even begrudgingly give us any praise for ours.

The chat after they scored saying they shouldn't have been 2 goals down anyway was also funny, maybe it's just me but I found it faf. Then we go back to having a 2 goal cushion with the pen and sending off of their keeper.

Oh and when Cadden misses a free kick, his 'justice, I didn't see where the free kick was awarded for, it was the linesman' etc etc.

Durnford wrote:Someone said the East Fife player pushed the referee for not awarding a free kick after the cameras had moved on

Can really see from the highlights why the double jeopardy rule over red card and penalty wasn't applied as the goalkeeper's challenge was deliberate foul play.

Not sure I would say the first goal was against the run of play; remember East Fife had one shot on target the entire game.

The BBC stats which, for a change, I agree with:

Possession
Home 52%  Away 48%
Shots
Home 13 Away 5
Shots on Target
Home 4 Away 1
Corners
Home 5 Away 9
Fouls
Home 12 Away 18

Dominated play doesn't count for much if you don't threaten in the final 3rd, their shooting wasn't up to much and I never felt nervous about them scoring. We dominated play against QP but couldn't penetrate their defence, our defence wasn't 10 men behind the ball like QP either and East Fife were hardly pinning us in with backs against the wall pressure.

We got caught out for their goal in the 2nd half though, same kind of goals they scored against us in the last game, straight punt towards our box and our defenders didn't deal with it. Didn't feel we'd lose the 3 points when they scored either, always thought we'd get a 3rd, and really should've had another couple when they went down to 9 men but I got my prediction right so all's good.

Bertie Bassett wrote:D, East Fife spent most of the first half in our half and a large chunk of it in our box with about 5 corners in quick succession, dominating possession and territory (which they did) doesn't always translate to shots on goal. We were poor in the first half, didn't use the ball well enough when we had it and were much too ponderous... Until the move which brought the goal. So regardless of statistics our goal came against the run of play.

Sorry but we had five shots at goal in the first half compared to East Fife's 3.

Also for the first half we had 54.8% possession compared to East Fife's 45.2%

Yes they had four corners in quick succession but did nothing with them

Before our first goal East Fife had conceded three free kicks in fairly quick succession and had shots on goal from Nicky Cadden and Jackson Longridge.

Not exactly what I would call against the run of play.