Relichtie
Memorable
matches
February 6 1993 Arbroath 0-0 East Fife Scottish Cup 4th Round
After a prolonged 2nd round tie with Gala Fairydean, a 1-1 away draw, an abandoned replay while winning 3-0, and a 2-0 victory in the replayed "replay", followed by a magnificent 3-0 victory over Morton in the 3rd round, with a Stuart Sorbie hat trick, the men from Methil were visitors to Gayfield in the 4th round.
In a lively opening spell, MacDonald was put through by Sorbie but hesitated allowing Ray Charles to gather in the first minute. The fifers came back strongly and Harkness saved from firstly Hope, and a minute later from Andrew after a Sludden shot had been parried. Boyd had a lucky escape when he brought down Andrew, but the referee didn't consider him to be the last man and only booked him. Arbroath had a penalty claim when Hope appeared to bring down Sorbie, but the ref waved away their appeals.
Tindal forced a wonder save from Charles in the second half, and minutes later MacDonald had a chance but he shot over. Penalty appeals were at one all when Harkness seemed to bring down Hope but again the ref said no. Arbroath had more of the match, but the best chance fell to Scott, who had replaced Andrew, when his shot beat Harkness but went narrowly over the bar.
Arbroath - Harkness, Tindal, Martin, Mitchell, Boyd, Farnan, Hamilton, Florence, Will, MacDonald, Sorbie. subs Tosh and Buckley.
East Fife - Charles, Bell, Allan, Skelligan, Burgess, Taylor, Burns, Hope, Andrew, Sludden, Beaton. subs Scott and Elliot.
Referee W. Crombie, Edinburgh.
Attendance 2984.
February 16 1993 East Fife 1-4 Arbroath Scottish Cup 4th Round Replay.
What a night ! What a match !! What a result !!!
Methil was turned maroon that night.
The match was delayed for five minutes to allow the large crowd in. I found a spot level with the 18 yard line at the away end, just perfect for the second half goals. On the many visits that I've made to Old Bayview, I usually had no trouble parking near the ground, but on this occasion, the Fife polis put all the Arbroath fans cars down by the docks. By the time we got to the ground you would have thought half of Arbroath was there.
When the match finally got going both sides had early chances, but in 12 minutes the fifers struck. Burgess had had a shot which was collected by Sludden, who exchanged passes with McBride before shooting past Harkness. It only took Arbroath three minutes to level when Tosh took advantage of a mix up between Burgess and Burns to score with a volley in off the post. Both sides could have added to their tallies, but half time came with no more goals.
If Arbroath had a bad start to the first half, the second couldn't have begun better. MacDonald took advantage of a Burgess mistake and broke a challenge by Spence before releasing Martin, who slipped the ball past the advancing keeper. In 52 mins. a Tindal corner was cleared, but only fell to Martin who despatched a ferocious volley into the corner of the net. It was a magnificent strike. The men from Methil were clearly shaken by the maroons onslaught, but to their credit came back strongly and made chances for McBride, Sludden, and Beaton, but some bad finishing and good defensive work, particularly by Harkness, kept them at bay. Tosh then sealed the win for the lichties when he gathered the ball just inside his own half, raced past Burgess to the edge of the box and slipped the ball wide of Charles. It was voted "goal of the round" by the BBC. Elliot hit back for the home side but Harkness pushed his shot over the bar. With 4 mins. left Tosh found himself with only Charles to beat but the keeper made a great save, but then proceeded to assault the young Arbroath forward, who attempted to break free. The referee, after consulting with his linesman, sent both players off, which was particularly harsh on Paul Tosh, as he had done no wrong, and would now miss the quarter final tie with Rangers. Sorbie had a late chance for the lichties in injury time, and then the final whistle started the celebrations.
East Fife - Charles, Bell, Spence, Burns, Burgess, Taylor, Hope, Beaton, Scott, Sludden, McBride. subs Andrew and Elliot.
Arbroath - Harkness, Tindal, Martin, Mitchell, Boyd, Farnan, Hamilton, Florence, MacDonald, Tosh, Sorbie. subs McNaughton and Will.
Referee W. Crombie, Edinburgh.
Attendance 3722.
It's difficult to determine how many Arbroath fans were there, and everybody you speak to say they were, but by the noise, it must have been about half the near 4000 crowd. It seemed like that anyway !!
The goals from the match were shown the following evening, when Danny McGrain relived the match, and the goals.