The mighty East Fife minnows from Methil have pulled off one of the biggest giant-killing shocks in Scottish football history.
John Robertson’s part-timers are bottom of the second division, yet produced an astonishing performance to send SPL Aberdeen crashing out of the Scottish Communities League Cup after an extra time penalty shoot-out.
East Fife had been leading Aberdeen 3-2 in normal time with just seconds left thanks to goals by Ryan Wallace, Matthew Park and Robert Sloan.
However, Rory Fallon scored a soft penalty in the 91st minute to add to earlier goals from Rory McArdle and Darren Mackie to make the score 3-3.
East Fife could have buckled but held on in extra time and kept their nerve in the shoot-out with goalkeeper Mark Ridgers producing the vital sudden-death save that took them through to the quarter-finals of the cup.
East Fife boss John Robertson, who intimated on the radio prior to the match that the travelling from his home in Inverness to manage the Methil outfit was becoming too much of a strain after he almost nodded off at the wheel two weeks ago, said: “I have been involved in some giant-killing games in the past but this is possibly the biggest.
“I am incredibly proud of my players and I am delighted for the fans.
“I thought we scored three great goals and overall we thoroughly deserved our victory.”
He added: “I had a wee wobble at the wheel a fortnight ago and the travelling is taking its toll but I have not made any decision on when I will hand over the team to Gordon Durie.”Quality goalsIt was one-way traffic in the early stages with Aberdeen dominant but the home fans were stunned into silent disbelief just after the half-hour mark when East Fife’s Robert Ogleby raided down the right before swinging in an inch-perfect ball to Wallace who stroked the ball past goalkeeper David Gonzalez from 12 yards to give the part-timers a shock lead.
Robertson would have been praying that his side could have held out at least until half time but the Dons equalised just five minutes before the break when McArdle rose highest at an inswinging Ryan Jack free-kick from the Dons right to direct a header past Ridgers and into the back of the East Fife net.
The Dons fans only had to wait two minutes into the second half before seeing their side edge in front.
Scott Vernon cracked a shot in from the edge of the East Fife box which Ridgers could only parry and Mackie pounced to net the rebound from close range.
But the men from Methil dragged themselves back into the game with a goal of the highest quality in the 54th minute.
There seemed little danger as Park latched on to a loose ball all of 25 yards out from the Aberdeen goal but he struck an unstoppable drive which flew past the despairing Gonzalez.
And the small band of East Fife fans were in raptures again just two minutes later celebrating their side taking the lead.’Worst result’Wallace had cut in from the left along the edge of the Dons penalty area before playing a perfect reverse pass into the feet of Sloan who calmly picked his spot in the far corner of the Aberdeen net.
It looked to be all over for Aberdeen but as the game entered stoppage time, Mohamed Chalali went down under a soft challenge from Steven Hislop and referee McLean pointed to the spot.
Fallon, on as a sub, stepped up to smash the ball past Ridgers to take the game into extra time.
Josh Magennis and Arnason both had chances for Aberdeen but a combination of good goalkeeping and defending kept the score level and the game entered a nail-biting penalty shoot-out.
Ogleby, Darren Smith, Hislop and Park netted for East Fife with Kari Arnason, Peter Pawlett and Richard Foster scoring for the Dons.
It was 4-3 and in sudden death when Aberdeen’s Chris Clark stepped up but his kick was saved by Ridgers, sparking wild scenes of celebration among the East Fife players and fans.
Devastated Dons boss Craig Brown said: “This is possibly the worst result of my career.”