Clyde 0-2 East Fife

East Fife are safely through to round four of the Scottish Cup.

Clyde may be labouring in League Two, but during the week made the terrific appointment of former St Mirren boss Danny Lennon as their new manager.

The appointment would have given the players a lift and the Fifers had to temper that.

But they would have to do it without some key players, with loanees Greg Hurst, Mark Hurst, Nathan Flanagan and Jordan Piggott all unavailable to Darren Young.

Chris Kane and Kevin Smith stepped up their recoveries from injury with starts while Craig Watson was fit enough for a place on the bench.

The home crowd greeted Lennon with massive applause when he made his way into the Clyde dug out but they were almost silenced on five minutes when a Smith header was blocked on the line before being scrambled clear.

To their credit Clyde grew into the game and went on to have a sustained period of pressure on the Fife goal.

Former Fifer Kieran Duffie had a shot from range smothered by Ryan Goodfellow before David Goodwillie, who was lively in attack all game, should have opened the scoring when he raced clear on Ryan Goodfellow's goal.

You would have put money on the former Dundee United striker scoring but he screwed his effort into the side netting.

And the Fifers punished Clyde for their misses when Smith put his side ahead in style.

It was a brilliant move up the park by the Methil men with an Aaron Dunsmore cross into the box headed into Smith's path by Chris Duggan.

Smith shifted his body to meet the ball flush on the volley and found the back of the net.

The game descended into a bit of a midfielder slog with neither side really looking too dangerous.

But just as they had in the first half, the Fifers scored at a good time when Jonathan Page powered home a Mark Docherty free-kick.

The goal really knocked the stuffing out of the hosts and their task to get back into the game was made that bit harder when Martin McNiff was shown a straight red for a lunge on Ben Reilly.

Boss Darren Young said:

“It was a scrappy game but what a great strike by Kev.

“It was his first start of the season with him coming back from injury and you can see what he means to the club with the type of player he is.

“He’s a finisher.

The sending off looked harsh on McNiff and the Bully Wee fans were even more incensed with the officials when Dunsmore was only shown a yellow card for a push on Smart Osadolor.

Clyde - Currie, Home, Lowdon, McNiff, Breslin (Osadolor 67), Duffie, Cuddihy, Nicoll (Ramsey 75), Gormley (Wright 67), Goodwillie, Stewart.

Subs - Craig, Wilson, Lamont, Brown.

East Fife - Goodfellow, Dunsmore, Docherty, Kane, Page, Lamont (Watson 67), Duggan, Smith (Mutch 67), Wilkie (Reilly 82), Wilson, Millar.

Subs - Cordery, Willis.