East Fife manager Greig McDonald sets out what is needed versus Clyde ahead of League One playoff second leg

Greig McDonald said he wasn’t too discouraged with the performance of his team in Tuesday night’s 1-0 defeat to Clyde.

The East Fife boss was largely happy with the display but said his side lacked a killer instinct.

They played some good football in the League One playoff first leg at MGM Timber Bayview – settled on the night by Martin Rennie’s goal.

The Bully Wee striker capitalised on an error to give his side the advantage.

GOAL ⚽️ | Martin Rennie's goal in the second half gives us a 1-0 advantage in our playoff semi-final against East Fife going into the second leg #bullywee pic.twitter.com/VOtCBiJejb

— Clyde FC (@ClydeFC) May 9, 2023

It leaves things finely poised going into Friday’s return leg and McDonald takes confidence from his side’s form since around the turn of the year.

The Fifers qualified for the League One playoffs in fourth place after a run of seven wins and three draws from 10 defeats.

All to play for

“We don’t have to win it in the first five minutes on Friday night, but if we can play like we played on Tuesday and have a little bit more cutting edge about us, then we can cause problems,” he said.

“There’s been other weeks recently where we have had that cutting edge – so I’m not too worried at all.

“I just want the lads to go and give another good account of themselves – to maybe take a few more chances in and around the box, look to shoot a bit more and maybe get a few more bodies in the box to help Scotty [Scott Shepherd].

“If we can do that we can cause Clyde problems – but Clyde have got a threat as well.

“It’s all to play for.”

Bumps and bruises

East Fife’s home form had improved going into Tuesday night’s defeat but they have been one of the best League Two sides on the road throughout the campaign.

A few players picked up a few bumps and bruises but should recover in time for the trip to the ZLX Stadium, but McDonald knows that either way he has a strong group of players to select from.

“There’s a couple of players who we’ll assess,” he said.

“We’ve got a big squad, so we can make changes – and we might do that anyway to freshen it up.

“What I’ve said to the guys is we’ve seen Clyde now and they’ve seen you and it’s quite simple what you need to do.

“Our away form is excellent and has been all season, so that doesn’t hold any fears for us.”