Bonnyrigg Rose Athletic 1-1 East Fife: A point a good result, reckons boss Greig McDonald

Veteran Alan Trouten put the Fifers ahead on 57 minutes with a well-placed effort inside the box after weaving away from a congested penalty box, but the home side equalised twenty minutes later through Callum Connolly.

The midfielder netted from close from a corner kick to level the match – and Robbie Horn’s team certainly deserved to be level after dominating most of proceedings, and having created the better chances. East Fife could have won it late on when Aidan Denholm was sent through one-on-one in injury-time, but he could shoot straight into Paddy Martin’s gloves. Manager Greig McDonald admitted that the away side looked more likely to win the match, but he hailed his team’s new-found battling qualities to pick up a point.

“Everyone knew how the match would go and it was no different from the last visit to Bonnyrigg,” he said. “We decided to stick with the same formation that caused them problems last time we met – but we didn’t really lay a glove of them in an attacking sense in that first half.

“I was comfortable with it being 0-0 at half time and Allan Fleming didn’t have much to do either. We started the second half better and we had a good 15-20 minute spell that saw us deservedly go in front, but I think the introduction of Kieran McGachie caused us problems and it helped them get back into the game.

“Robbie and his team will have hoped to go on and win the game and they had the better chances, they will be disappointed with the result. At 1-0 we did have a chance to make it two and kill the game however. The things that have been going for us recently just didn’t on Saturday.

“I don’t think we can grumble at Bonnyrigg getting back into it, and although we dropped points, I think earlier in the season we would have lost that game. It is a tough place to come to and I am looking at it as a point gained. It is a sign that we are maturing that managed to grind out a point.”