East Fife boss Gary Naysmith revealed that a heart-to-heart with Kevin Smith helped the Fife forward turn in a man-of-the-match performance against East Stirling.
The Fife striker had admitted to the Methil boss that his form had been out of sorts but he bounced back in some style on Saturday.
Smith grabbed the Fifers’ second goal of the game as they cruised to a 3-1 win at Bayview to secure their first points of the new season.
Naysmith heaped praise on the impact that Smith had on the game.
He said: “I thought Kevin Smith was different class. He’s a strong boy and really looks after himself.
“I’m glad for him because I spoke with him after the Albion Rovers game. I was a bit worried because he hadn’t really been playing as well as I know he can.
“I asked him if everything was OK off the field but he was honest enough to say ‘gaffer I’ve just been terrible’.
“He said he’d work hard to put it right and did that.”
The Fifers dominated what was a pretty scrappy opening to the game before taking a deserved lead.
Scott Smith’s corner wasn’t cleared and the ball fell kindly for Jon McShane. The striker took a touch before firing past Richard Barnard.
It should have been 2-0 just a few minutes later when McShane turned provider for Smith. But six yards from goal the striker turned his shot over the bar.
Smith made up for his miss, though, when he created space for himself on the edge of the area and fired a shot towards goal which caught a deflection and looped over Bernard.
Youngster David Maskrey pounced on a loose ball to fire home the third his first senior goal before Jordan Tapping headed home a consolation for Craig Tully’s side.