Dundee 2
East Fife 2
Scottish Cup (3rd Round)

Match Report

Newspaper extract from The Courier - Steve Bruce.

Dundee were forced to come from behind to keep their Scottish Cup hopes alive against part-time East Fife at Dens last night.

It was an old, familiar story for the Dark Blues. They failed to turn their first-half dominance into goals and almost paid a terrible price with the Methil men striking twice after the break to sensationally lead 2-1.

Fortunately for Dundee, a saviour emerged in the shape of £70,000 striker Tommy Coyne, who chose the perfect time to notch his first goal for the club.

Manager Jocky Scott admitted, "We were let out of jail tonight and I take responsibility for picking the wrong side. A lot of the blame must be shouldered by myself as well as those out on the park."

Manager Dave Clark emerged 40 minutes after the game to express pride in his players' performance.

"First half, because of the strong wind and the way I had set the players out to play, I had doubts," he said. "They were getting to us.

"Second half, though, after I made our substitution, the players were absolutely in the right frame of mind and I have nothing but praise for the way they forced themselves into the game. We are really looking forward to the replay."

The replay is scheduled for Bayview on Monday and Dundee cannot be relishing the prospect of a rematch with the First Division outfit on their own ground. The winners of this third round tie are at home to Meadowbank in the next stage of the competition.

East Fife deserved tremendous credit for their performance in the second half.

They were seldom seen as an attacking force during the opening 45 minutes but an interval change in battle plans, with all-out defence being replaced by a more adventurous approach, paid dividends.

Dundee, showing two changes from the side that lost to Motherwell with McKinlay and Jack replacing Glennie and Angus, started well but simply couldn't find a way past a well-drilled defence.

Their best early chance came when Ross Jack was put clean through by Coyne but Marshall raced off his line to block and McLaren knocked the ball away for a corner.

Defender Jim Smith opened the scoring in 34 minutes. Taking possession of the ball following a corner, he broke into the area, beat two men from a narrow angle and fired in a shot which appeared to be deflected past Marshall.

Thereafter, Coyne and Brown both came close to increasing that advantage, the former shooting narrowly over following a corner, the latter trying a shot from 20 yards which Mar-shall did well to save.

A couple of penalty claims apart, the only serious incident at the other end occurred some nine minutes from the break when comeback man McKinlay failed to properly clear a high ball from Mitchell and Geddes had to punch away under pressure from McNaughton.

Two minutes into the second period, however, the Methil men pulled level and, not for the first time in recent matches, the Dark Blues' defence was at fault.

Duffy and co. were posted missing as Blair broke down the left and his accurate cross found the unmarked Brian McNaughton who made no mistake with a header from eight yards.

Worse was to follow for Dundee with a sensational second goal for East Fife in 63 minutes and what a cracker it was.

Blair and Mitchell were allowed time and space to work a one-two on the edge of the box before the former placed a clever shot beyond the reach of Geddes.

The Fife club's lead, however, was short lived for five minutes later Dundee levelled, Coyne and Jack exchanging passes on the 18-yard line and the former United player finishing the move off with a super shot which gave Marshall no chance.

Sighs of relief were to be heard all round Dens Park.

Just before that face-saver, John Brown had struck the outside of a post, and following it there were several moments of excitement at either end, most notably when Geddes brilliantly touched over a Kirkwood 30-yarder, and then in the dying minutes sprinted from his box to clear as MacNaughton burst through.

There was one booking, East Fife's Gordon Smith, for a foul on Forsyth.