East Fife boss Gary Naysmith is hopeful today’s home game against East Stirling will beat the weather as his side try to claw their way back into the top four.
The Fifers were left idle last week and saw a midweek friendly against Kelty Hearts also fall by the wayside due to the freezing temperatures, but Naysmith is eager to eat into the gap that currently exists between his side and the play-off spots with a win.
“Any game at home we should be looking to win and, as I’ve said before, the home form has not been good enough,” he commented.
“We trained last Saturday but myself and Dougie went to watch East Stirling against Annan last week and we thought they were the better team.
“Annan scored against the run of play, East Stirling got back into it, and then they got a player sent off after about 55 or 60 minutes.
“I didn’t think it was a red card, but even then East Stirling kept pushing and were probably the better side.
“I thought they were unlucky to lose 3-1 in the end, and we know they’ll come here looking to try and take something from the game.”
The Fifers are optimistic that the Bayview pitch will thaw out in time for the game to go ahead, although the surface was frozen solid for several days this week.
Naysmith’s men have had two call-offs in the last three weekends, and the manager is keen to see this one go ahead.
“If this game goes off then I’m concerned that we’ll have too many midweek games for us being part-time,” he continued.
“We need to get on with it but Elgin has gone to a midweek, Albion Rovers has gone to a midweek, and Berwick at home will also be a midweek because they are in the Scottish Cup.
“It’s certainly not ideal.”
The Fifers have both Fraser Mullen and Ross Campbell suspended, although Naysmith himself and Scott Smith will be back in the squad after injury.