East Fife player manager Gary Naysmith has urged his players to provide the right response to last weekend’s lacklustre loss when they host promotion chasing Arbroath this afternoon.
Naysmith tore into his squad in the wake of their 2-0 defeat to East Stirling seven days ago and will be seeking a vast improvement when the Lichties’ visit Methil today.
The Fifers remained in the play-off spots by virtue of goal difference despite last week’s defeat, and it is a big week for the Bayview club’s promotion aspirations with fixtures against Berwick and Montrose to follow in close succession.
And if they are to realise that goal of securing a top four spot, Naysmith freely admitted that his players will have to better than they were last Saturday.
“We need players that are going to run through brick walls for this football club and if you don’t defend right and you don’t start right it’s a recipe for disaster,” he commented.
“The players should have performed better than they did.
“They have that quality but quality doesn’t necessarily win you football matches.
“If you are not going to do the hard work and the hard graft, and earn the right to show your quality, you’ll get what we got against East Stirling.
“So we need to learn from it.
“They are a good group of players who normally give their all but we were well off the level and far, far below the standard I expect.”
Arbroath manager Allan Moore is not letting anyone at Gayfield dwell on Wednesday night’s 2-0 defeat from Albion Rovers.
He said: “We have to end the season on a high regardless of our league position. If we win the league as a result then that would be great but if it is the play-offs for us then you want to be going into them in good form.
“One of the key differences between Saturday, when we defeated Clyde, and Wednesday was scoring the first goal. We got it against Clyde and that was the first time in 5 games we had done that.
“East Fife are a bit unpredictable but on their day they are a good side. The players are putting in a great effort, I cannot fault them for that, but we need the goalscorers to score and the defenders to defend.”
Liam Gordon, Adam Hunter, Jonny Lindsay and Dylan Carreiro are all out for Arbroath. East Fife’s Fraser Mullen remains doubtful and Caolan McAleer is unlikely to start as he recovers from a knee injury, while defender Julen Etxabeguren Leanizbarrutia, Kevin Smith and Liam Smith are all likely to be missing. Nathan Austin should return.