East Fife 4-2 Raith Rovers

For the second week in a row East Fife hit four goals at Bayview on the way to demolishing their opponents.
The celebrations start at Bayview after Chris Higgins puts the Methil men ahead. Pic by Kenny Mackay.The celebrations start at Bayview after Chris Higgins puts the Methil men ahead. Pic by Kenny Mackay.
The celebrations start at Bayview after Chris Higgins puts the Methil men ahead. Pic by Kenny Mackay.

With the score at 3-1, Raith grabbed a late second to make this game more nervy than it needed to be.

If they had managed to equalise and take a share of the spoils, it would have been daylight robbery.

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Apart from a ten minute spell at the start of the first half, East Fife were better than their Kingdom counterparts in every single department.

The Methil club had to wait decades to get their first win over Raith, but since doing that last season, have largely had their neighbours' number.

Raith are a decent team, with some exciting attacking options and plenty of experience.

But they were made to look nervy and completely second best at Bayview.

Going forward Raith looked a threat, at the back a mess.

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The windy conditions didn't help, to be fair, but it was the same for both teams.

East Fife gifted their opponents the opening goal, Ross Dunlop's passback woefully short and allowing Lewis Allan to round Jordan Hart and net.

Losing the goal was the kick up the backside the Methil men needed to raise their game, and raise it they did.

Every week now Ryan Wallace's effort and desire is worth mentioning, and this week is no different.

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He held up the ball well inside the Raith box and laid a pass on a plate for Anton Dowds to score the equaliser.

Aaron Dunsmore had a shot blocked and Wallace hit the bar as the shellshocked visitors were bombarded.

East Fife completely merited their second goal when it arrived from Chris Higgins who swept in a cutback following a Scott Agnew delivery.

Agnew was causing all sorts of problems with his crosses and set-piece deliveries, Raith flapping and unable to clear their lines.

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It was his free-kick in front of the dug outs which led to goal number three, Wallace breaking off his marker with ease to provide the finish.

The Fifers were cruising and totally merited their advantage.

But when Jamie Gullan found the corner of Hart's net it set up a grandstand finish.

Raith managed to roar back at the death in the final derby of last season, but they were denied a repeat when Agnew smashed home number four.

It was a fitting end to a terrific derby day performance.

Boss Darren Young said: “We scored four goals and are probably disappointed we didn’t make it five or six.

“There was another couple of gilt edge edges and overall we were outstanding."