Draw was out of character, says East Fife midfielder Liam Watt

The Methil men were held to a 1-1 draw with lowly Stranraer on their home patch.

During the first half in particular the hosts had enough chances to have the game wrapped up, but lacked a clinical edge.

It came back to haunt them after the break with Robert Jones grabbing a late equaliser for Stevie Farrell’s men. Watt said the performance in front of goal was out of character for a side which had netted 17 times before Saturday.

“I thought overall we had enough chances to put the game to bed by half time,” he said.

“They (Stranraer) came out in the second half and we never, so it’s disappointing to drop the two points at the end.

“We had some really good chances and, if we’d taken them, then the game would have been over instead of the pressure of just having one goal.”

It was a clichéd game of two halves at the weekend with the Fifers on top during the opening 45 but the Blues much better after the interval.

It was an alarming fall out of the game by an East Fife side which looked increasingly leggy as the game went on.

“Stranraer probably had a rollicking at half time but we should have been able to weather that storm,” admitted Watt.

“They put us under pressure with their long balls.

“We know we should have won the game in the first half.”

Overall, despite the poor result at the weekend, it’s still be an impressive opening to the new season.

East Fife sit perched in second place in League One and have yet to suffer defeat in the league.

The league campaign has built on what was a solid Betfred Cup group showing and Watt says the club has to be content with the start they’ve made.

“We’re second and we would have taken that,” said the midfielder.

“We’ve done well and are still unbeaten so we’ll take it a game at a time now and see how it goes.”

There’s no secret formula to the good record, according to Watt, it’s just down to old fashioned hard work and a solid team ethic.

He added:“We have a good bunch of boys and everyone works hard.

“If someone makes a mistake then someone else is there to help them.

“We have a good squad and there are people on the bench who make everyone work harder so they don’t lose their place.”