Ho Ho Ho

I don't think I would have believed it had I not seen it with my own eyes. Quite how John Coughlin has done it I don't know, but from the depths of the Cup exit at the hands of Pub Team United, to a victory against the runaway league leaders in a matter of weeks; some might say it's a miracle. From memory, I think 10 of the team that beat East Fife this afternoon were part of the shamefaced team sent packing by Threave Rovers last month. I hadn't seen the games against Montrose and Stranraer, but there were signs of encouragement in the performances against The Shire and Dumbarton, but this afternoons performance was such a huge leap in term of skill level, commitment and effort. Faced with the constant bombardment of Fife corners, free kicks and general punts up the park, we would have wilted in previous weeks, and who knows it, maybe even shipped 7 goals in 45 minutes. But I can honestly say that when we went 2-1 up I didn't think we were going to lose it. In actual fact the closest Fife came to an equaliser was when three or four of our defenders took an eternity to clear a ball that was crawling along our goal line. They were unable to break us down and in the end resorted to lumping the ball into our box aimed at their lumbering oafs. I actually wonder if we had played without a keeper this afternoon whether the score would have been any different. East Fife couldn't get close enough to him to see if he was any good or not and he appeared to be under strict instructions to stay rooted to his line as balls were lobbed into our box. We have obviously left it too late to challenge for the title, but based on this afternoon's performance and result, we ought to be capable of getting a play off spot. I have always thought that we had some good players at the club, and now we seem to have a manager who is able to get the best out of them. So my view on today's team (it's been a while since I could face rating each players performance!) Brown - had little to do. Could probably have come off his line for one or two of the 325 corners East Fife won but I guess he would have had to negotiate quite a few bulky figures in red and white before he could even get out of his 6 yard box; and in any case, Lennon and Gilbride coped manfully. McEwan - fantastic going forward in the 1st half, and fantastic defending in the 2nd. Galloway - didn't look out of place despite his tender years. He really looks a good player. Lennon - brilliant. I knew he was good, but not that good. I hadn't realised players were allowed to play with springs in their boots. Gilbride - lost the moniker "bombscare" today. He was excellent. Persistently got ahead of his man to nip Fife attacks in the bub and was generally very composed. Tyrell- he is a different player. Plays with more urgency than he ever has done, rarely gives the ball away and most amazing of all, has unlocked the mystery of the forward pass. Loved his goading of the Shire reject Stewart at the end aswell, although the ref did him a favour not giving him a 2nd yellow - would have been worth it though. Lyle - fantastic. My MOM. Has he always been that fast? His goal was without doubt the best one I have seen of ours this season. He kept going for the whole 90 minutes and generally was all over the park. Brilliant. Ferguson - fantastic aswell. I wonder if things would have been so bad if he had been around during the early part of the season. Another player who gets around the park well, and also has a great touch on him. Some of the first time passing in the 1st half was stupendous. Dempster - can't help feeling he is struggling to reach the heights of last season and I wonder if that trialist who played today signs on if Dempster will lose his place. Having said that, he played ok today. Hampshire - a better performance from him, but I still expect more. He really should have scored with the free header in the box just after our equialiser. Hamilton - a different player from the one at the start of the season. Cracking run to set up Lyle for the opener. He generally didn't stop from 1st minute to last. So overall, for the first time in ages, I am enjoying being a Stenhousemuir fan again. As for East Fife, they looked good, but not any better than us. They couldn't break us down playing the ball on the deck and resorted to high balls into our box, which rarely threatened. They will win the league, but if we play like we did today, we should close the gap by the end of the season. Merry Christmas!!