East Fife 0 Montrose 2

A threadbare Montrose line-up without a full substitutes bench and with various positional changes still produced a win to kick start the New Year. The main change was the debut for striker Elijah Simpson. Lennox in goal with a back four of Webster, Allan, Dillon and Steeves then Watson, Masson, Callaghan and Cammy F behind the front two of Simpson and Lyons. The referee was Craig Napier.

Montrose carved out an early opening when Simpson and Lyons exchanged passes but the final shot was blocked and the resultant corner was wasted. East Fife had a good chance on 7 minutes from a free kick wide right but the final effort was cleared without trouble. Another Fifers chance moments later saw McManus shoot wide from a decent position. Montrose were under pressure at that point and a loose back pass was nowhere near Lennox who did well to get a hand to it and deflect for a corner.

Lennox again saved another effort and whilst East Fife had chances they somehow looked not threatening and Montrose if anything coped well in defence but also needed to get more on their own game as well.

Approaching half-time The Mo started to look more livelier and won a couple of corners but it was a sluggish performance by any means as it stayed at 0-0 at the interval.

The second half started with Montrose a bit more aggressive. Simpson was getting more into his stride and will take time to adjust but Lyons was a lot livelier and was on his game now on the left although Webster at right back was very much missed down the right. East Fife had lost control now as the Mo started to dominate and suddenly there seemed to be only one winner barring mishaps.

Simpson had a shot deflected for a corner and the first goal came on 60 minutes from a Webster cross near the goal line whipped into the danger area where BLAIR LYONS was first to react and scored from close range to make it 1-0 to the Mo.

The Fifers were rocked into an immediate change as McManus gave way to Wallace to freshen it up but it was Montrose who were on top now and the second goal came on 63 minutes following another Montrose corner. It was directed at the far post and Steeves put it back into the mix where it bobbled about before BLAIR LYONS again acted decisively to force it home again from close range.

The Mo were on top at the 70-minute mark with a Masson shot tipped wide for another corner until East Fife made a double change with Slattery and Mercer off and Higgins and Watt on. Montrose responded on 74 minutes by bringing off Simpson for Keatings and Watson off for Brown.

The clock ticked on into the final ten minutes with East Fife desperate for possession. They hit the post on 78 minutes but in the aftermath had Connell red carded for ungentlemanly conduct and Montrose were awarded a free-kick on the goal line. The final few minutes were easily dealt with by Montrose who kept possession against the 10 men of East Fife and the final act was as Ross Campbell replaced Lyons in stoppage time.

Final score 2-0 to Montrose. After a sluggish first half Montrose dominated the second and deservedly won. The Man of the Match goes equally to Aaron Lennox for his work in keeping it all even at half-time but equally the second half performance of Blair Lyons deserves great credit for his tenacity in front of goal which was the telling factor in winning the 3 points on the day.

Report by Steve Doyle

Team Lineups & Stats

cinch League 1

Sunday 2nd January 2022

1	Scott Gallagher	21	Aaron Lennox
2	Aaron Dunsmore	7	Graham Webster
3	Chris Higgins	3	Andrew Steeves
6	Connor McManus (s61)	4	Matty Allan
7	Danny Denholm	14	Seán Dillon
8	Pat Slatery (s71)	8	Paul Watson (c) (s74)
11	Kiaran Millar	19	Liam Callaghan
12	Scott Mercer (s70)	6	Terry Masson
17	Aaron Steele	20	Cammy F Ballantyne
20	RyanBlair	18	Elijah Simpson (s74)
22	Kyle Connell	11	Blair Lyons (s90+1)
4	Cammy Dow	15	Mark Whatley
9	Ryan Wallace (s61)	22	Craig Brown (s74)
14	Liam Watt (s71)	9	James Keatings (s74)
19	Daniel Higgins (s70)	16	Ross Campbell (90+1)
15	Adam Mansouri	1	Allan Fleming (GK)
18	Liam Newton
21	Liam Campbell (GK)

Referee:
Craig Napier

Assistant Referees:
Graham McNellie, Gordon Crawford

Goalscorers:
Montrose - Blair Lyons (60,63)

Yellow Cards:
None

Red Cards:
East Fife - Kyle Connell (78)

Attendance:
497