Pat makes a case for the defence

East Fife kept their second clean sheet in as many weeks as they snuffed out Forfar Athletic at Bayview on Saturday.
Pat Slattery.Pat Slattery.
Pat Slattery.

And midfielder Pat Slattery paid tribute to his team mates at the back for their mean spirit.

The 1-0 win keeps East Fife in third place ahead of Saturday’s trip to Stark’s Park to meet a Raith Rovers side who sit just a place above them.

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And they’ll arrive with a spring in their step, according to Slattery.

He said: “Forfar knocked it about really well, especially in the first half.

“We had to defend for large parts of the first half but I felt we done that really well.

“We limited them to very few chances and we’re happy to get the win.

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“They’ve been on a good run and have good players who can hurt you if you give them time and space.

“But I felt like we nullified their attacking players.”

Slattery has had to be patient and wait for his chance in recent weeks as boss Darren Young has managed to keep a fairly settled squad.

But he was handed a start against Stenhousemuir last week before keeping hold of his shirt for the weekend’s game.

And Slattery admits that’s just part and parcel of being part of a squad of players which has performed so well this campaign.

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He added: “Everyone has the chance to play and is good enough to play.

“So you just have to make sure that when you get the chance you take it.

“Anything I can do to help the boys and get the three points I’ll do it.”

The weekend’s game looked to be creeping towards stalemate on Saturday until Scott Agnew popped up with a stunning late winner.

“‘Aggy’ has that in him,” said Slattery.

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“He showed that in the first half when he almost put one in the stanchion.

“We really limited them and we always know we have players like Aggy who can hurt teams.

“Big Anton Dowds as well is another who can get goals out of nothing - something he’s done.

“It’s a massive three points.”

Attention now turns to this weekend’s fixture as East Fife travel to face Raith Rovers for the third time this season.

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The two Kingdom sides are amongst the form teams in the league.

“It’s another big one,” said Slattery.

“They got a good win at Arbroath and are a couple of wins on the bounce now as well. We’ll try to do what we did the last time and take the three points.

“We’ll work and try to get another win.”