East Fife assistant boss Dougie Anderson was able to take plenty of positives from East Fife’s Fife Cup clash with Dunfermline despite their 2-1 defeat.
The League Two Methil side put up a brave fight against Jim Jefferies’ side and only went down to a stunning last-minute Ross Forbes winner. Anderson was content with what he saw from his side.
He said: “I thought overall we played really, really well. In the first half in particular we had five or six really good opportunities and Nathan Austin and Kevin Smith were a real handful.
“Our midfield were strong. Fraser Mullen has come in there and played well so that’s another positive.”
Austin passed up two good opportunities to break the deadlock in the first 10 minutes.
The Fife striker found himself one-on-one with Pars goalie Ryan Goodfellow but twice found the keeper equal to his efforts.
Dunfermline should have gone a goal up shortly before the half-hour mark when Faissel El Bahktoui had a clear sight of goal. The forward wasted his chance, though, and dragged his effort wide.
The Fifers grabbed the lead when Goodfellow failed to hold a Smith drive and let the ball squirm through his body and into the net.
But East Fife were unable to hold on to their lead for long and from the re-start Dunfermline burst straight up the park and equalised through Ryan Thomson.
The Pars kept on the front foot and went close from Forbes whose lob dropped just the wrong side of the bar.
Forbes managed to get on the scoresheet in the dying seconds, though, when he volleyed home a superb winner.
Pars coach John Potter admitted that he expects better from his side.
He said: “I don’t think we were quick enough or moved the ball sharply enough so I’m disappointed with that. In the second half I thought we were a bit better and controlled the game.