Brett Long insists East Fife have the squad to cope with run

Brett Long insists East Fife will dust themselves down and fully focus on promotion after dropping out of the Irn-Bru Cup on Friday.
Brett LongBrett Long
Brett Long

The defeat to Ross County followed a loss in the Scottish Cup to Partick Thistle the weekend before.

The club’s efforts in both competitions deserve massive praise, but now attention goes solely on the club’s League One campaign.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

East Fife’s respective cup runs have had a knock on effect on the league season, with the club set to play over the next three Tuesday evenings to make up for the games missed.

But Long says he can’t wait to return to league action and help the Fifers back up the table after dropping a place to fourth.

He said: “We have to kick on in the league and get back up there now.

“It’s a tough run with Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday, Saturday-Tuesday coming up, but we have a good enough squad to go on and do very good things this year.

“We have some hard fixtures to come.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Going away to Brechin won’t be nice but there’s a quality as well as determination and spirit at the club.

“If the fans get behind us again then we can all go on, push and do this together.”

Long impressed in front of the TV cameras on Friday night as he stopped County adding to their lead more than once.

Despite his display, he conceded that it meant little give the side was now out of the competition.

Long added: “It was an intense game and was end to end.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“They had a bit of the ball but I thought we did well and proved ourselves again like we’ve done against all of the Championship teams, and even the full-time team in our league, that we can go toe to toe and match them - if not be better than them.

“We had one or two things the referee never gave us (against County) but on another day might have.

“I’m in it to help the team and we’re all in together.

“It’s a team game and everyone gets stuck in.

“I thought big Anton was really good and caused them trouble all night.

“I just do my job and thankfully I had a decent enough game.”