Athletic confident for East Fife test

This weekend Peter Murphy’s men can extend their unbeaten away run to four games when they visit Bayview Stadium. But it will be no easy task against The Fifers, currently managed by ex-Galabankie Greig McDonald, who occupy fourth spot in league two. When the sides last met at Galabank in September the Black and Golds lost two early goals. But Tommy Goss grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck and scored a quick fire brace late on to rescue a point. Murphy said: “They have changed the way they play under their new manager and are exciting going forward. “We will have to be high in our concentration levels. “We are undefeated in three on the road, and we have won two of them, so we will go there with confidence and see if we can get a result. “Tommy Muir was injured last week, it was an impact injury on his knee. He tried to play on with it for half an hour. “Apart from that we have a relatively fit squad, Steven Swinglehurst managed to get through the whole game which is a bonus.”

Unlucky

On Saturday Annan bagged a hard fought point following a 1-1 draw away to Stranraer in miserable conditions at Stair Park. The Black and Golds made a positive start, scoring bright and early through Aidan Smith who stabbed home from close range. But Stranraer midfielder Dean Hawkshaw denied Annan victory after he bundled in an equaliser with half an hour left on the clock. [caption id="attachment_45801" align="alignnone" width="680"]

OPENING GOAL . . . Annan players surround Aidan Smith as they celebrate taking the lead Pic: JS Sports and Events[/caption] However, Athletic stood strong to make sure they did not leave empty handed. Murphy said: “In the end, with the weather we faced, 1-1 was a good result to get. “But we did have a couple of good chances.” The gaffer expressed his frustration at what looked like a badly mistimed challenge by Ikechi Eze on Benjamin Luissint in the Stranraer penalty area in the dying moments of the match. Murphy added: “It would have been a penalty in the last minute, you can see on the highlights that the man doesn’t connect with the ball. “If that happened at that the other end for Stranraer they would have been unlucky not to get it.”