East Fife 1
Dundee 4
Scottish Cup (3rd Round Replay)

Match Report

Newspaper extract from The Courier.

Plucky East Fife, who made sure this Scottish Cup third round replay was no pushover for their Premier League opponents, had the worst possible start in their bid for glory at rain-soaked Bayview last night.

The game was nearly half an hour late starting as the minibus carrying six East Fife players, five of them listed for the game, was held up after a serious road accident on the A90 near Barnton, on the Edinburgh side of the Forth Road Bridge.

Luckily the minibus was not involved but was held up in the traffic tailback following the incident.

Those who arrived at Bayview 20 minutes after the scheduled 7.30 p.m. start time were Marshall, Connor, Conroy, McNaughton and Perry, plus Smith, who was not playing through illness.

The referee, Mr Roy from Aberdeen, told the players to strip and get on the park immediately without any warm up preliminaries, and within eight minutes the game started.

When the game eventually started 28 minutes late, Dundee immediately forced a corner which came to nothing. The pitch had patches of water visible on the centre line and the goal areas, In four minutes Geddes grabbed a Kirkwood snapshot fired from the edge of the box.

Then Raymond Blair completed a twisting run down the right wing with an angled shot that the keeper had well covered.

Dundee threatened in eight minutes with Coyne flicking a lob to Harvey, forcing Marshall to save at the striker's feet. Coyne came desperately close in 11 minutes when he headed a Shannon cross just wide of the upright.

The visitors were on top at this stage forcing the Fifers back with aggressive play through the middle.

Ken Halley was booked for a foul on Coyne in the 15th minute and then Tom McCafferty was booked for dissent.

In the 16th minute, Dundee deservedly opened the scoring with a showpiece goal.

A Glennie cross from the left was touched on by Coyne and Harvey nearly finished the move fr.close range.

Geddes was in action again in the 24th minute, blocking a Burgess header from a Blair corner. Kirkwood had the home support roaring a minute later when the ball reached him from broken play in front of goal and he blasted inches wide.

Geddes clutched a brisk header from McNaughton, the chance set up by Perry in 28 minutes.

Marshall brought off a brilliant save at the other end, turning over a bullet of a header from Wright.

During the next 10 minutes it was the Fifers turn to pile on the pressure and much of the play was deep in Dundee's half.

East Fife equalised with a penalty just after the start of the second half. Geddes blocked a long-range shot from Burgess and as McNaughton ran on to the rebound he was pulled down by the keeper. Burgess hit a curving shot into the top corner from the spot.

Paul Hunter then replaced McNaughton.

Dundee again took the lead in the 59th minute. Coyne, on the bye-line, flicked a neat lob to the far post and Wright, unmarked, headed home powerfully.

The Fifers responded with Burgess driving a long-range shot off the bar, with Perry failing to convert the rebound. In the 65th minute Shannon was booked for persistent fouling.

Two minutes later Coyne got Dundee's third. Smith pushed on an Angus cross from the right and Coyne converted with an overhead kick.

Perry and Duffy were then booked in separate incidents. In the 72nd minute McLaren came on for Hunter. Jack replaced Wright in 87 minutes.

A minute later Burgess forced an instinctive save from Geddes when he first-timed a McCafferty cross from 10 yards. In the dying seconds Jack scored from an Angus free kick.

Attendance - 4900.

East Fife: Marshall, Conner, Conroy McCafferty, Halley, Burgess, Perry Kirkwood, McNaughton, Mitchell. Blair. Subs-McLaren, Hunter.

Dundee Geddes: Shannon, Glennie. Rafferty, Smith, Duffy, Coyne, Mennie. Harvey, Angus, Wright. subs-Forsyth

Referee - A. M. Roy, Aberdeen