East Fife 0-7 Heart of Midlothian
Heart of Midlothian arrived at Bayview packed with quality and gave the hosts a challenging 90 minutes – to say the least.
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Hide AdSmith, who left the club in the summer, signing for Bonnyrigg Rose, certainly left an impression at East Fife FC, something reflected in the large crowd who headed to Bayview for his testimonial.
As captain he guided the team to a League Two title triumph with his professionalism, approachability and, first and foremost, talent on the football field making him a hugely popular figure around the Methil club.
Hearts provided an appropriate standard of opposition for the occasion but were in little mood for sentimentality.
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Hide AdAfter a guard of honour for Smith both sides got down to business with Smith himself seeing a couple of efforts within the opening 15 minutes chopped off for fouls.
From there the Jambos rolled up their sleeves and would race into a three goal lead before half time, Alex Cochrane, Finlay Pollock and a trialist striker putting the Premiership club in the driving seat.
Just four minutes had passed in the second half before Hearts made it 4-0, Stephen Kingsley rifling home from long range.
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Hide AdKingsley wasn’t finished there and six minutes later he added his side’s fifth goal, heading home a Jorge Grant corner.
East Fife were finding it incredibly tough going and Kingsley was to net his hat-trick from the spot following a foul on Pollock.
It was a case of how many at this point and Alan Forrest, seconds after coming off the bench, made it 7-0 to the Premiership side.
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Hide AdSmith left the field with 15 minutes to go, bringing an end to his association with the club.
The subs started to flow which disrupted the flow of the game.
There was still time for Forrest to have another sight of goal, though, but this time he failed to hit the target.