Match Report - By John Hoey

East Fife 2 Brechin City 1

Brechin City went down by the odd goal in five after a 3-2 defeat from East Fife at Bayview Stadium.

City found themselves two goals down within three minutes of an entertaining first-half but Andy Jackson pulled a goal back before half-time and a superb volley from Willie Dyer levelled the match early in the second-half.

However, it was the hosts who scored the winning goal midway through the half when Chis Duggan converted from the penalty-spot.

Overall, it was a disappointing performance from City who have now not win a game since Christmas Eve when they defeated Alloa Athletic and to make matters worse they will go into this coming Saturday's vital match down at Stranraer without the services of Alan Trouten who was ordered off late on in the match with East Fife's Nicky Paterson following a short time later.

City started well and they threatened the East Fife goal after just three minutes when Liam Watt played a good one-two with Jackson and was on hand to collect the return pass before pushing forward and firing in a shot which was wide of the target.

The Fifers hit back straight away and the ball was played out wide on the left to Chris Duggan who played it across the box for Chris Kane and his cross into the box was cut out by Graeme Smith who was quickly off his line to avert the danger and shortly afterwards a long-range effort from Kane was over the bar.

The hosts kept up the pressure and in the 23rd minute the ball was played out wide to Duggan who beat Dougie Hill and cut into the box before drilling in a shot which was held by Smith at the second attempt and a couple of minutes later a 20 yard free-kick from Kane skimmed the crossbar.

In the 27th minute Hill was the first player into the referee's book for a foul on Duggan and from the resultant free-kick Kane slotted a superb drive past Smith and it was 2-0 for the hosts three minutes later when the City defence failed completely to clear their lines and Kane was on hand to steer the ball past Smith.

City badly needed a goal to get themselves back into the game and it duly arrived three minutes later when Jackson picked up a pass at the edge of the home penalty-box and neatly beat Pat Slattery before drilling home a left-foot drive.

City started the second-half on the front foot and they levelled the match eight minutes into the half when Jackson played a good pass across the face of the penalty-box for Dyer who cracked home a superb left-foot drive.

It was now anyone's match as both sides pushed forward in an effort to score the decisive third goal and unfortunately for City it was the Fifers who scored it courtesy of the penalty-spot in the 68th minute.

Jamie Insall pushed forward in the box only to be impeded by Gareth Rodger with referee David Munro pointing immediately to the penalty-spot and Duggan stepped up to send a low drive well beyond the reach of Smith.

Worse was to follow for City when they were reduced to ten men with six minutes remaining when Trouten was shown a straight red card for a foul on foul on Kevin Smith. It appeared an unduly harsh decision by the referee who follows it up by an equally harsh decision deep into injury-time when Nikki Paterson was also shown a red card for a foul.