East Fife v Dundee United: Match Statistics

*Includes two league matches v Dundee Hibs in season 1921/22

Totals (for League, Scottish Cup and League Cup):

Total Number of Goals Scored (in all three competitions):

On 26 January 1991, fully five minutes into stoppage time at the end of their third round Scottish Cup tie at Bayview Park, Paddy Connolly fired home Dundee United's equalising goal and saved the blushes of United manager Jim McLean and about fifteen hundred tangerine clad supporters in the 4,947 crowd. Second Division East Fife, who's last match had been a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Montrose, had taken a deserved lead after half an hour when recent signing Jim Cowell fired home his first goal for the club. Try as they might, United just couldn't break down the well drilled East Fife defence - until that dramatic last gasp equaliser. In the days following the match, United tried their best to excuse their performance - even claiming that the Fifers had kicked the ball out of the ground at every opportunity in their attempt to frustrate their Premier League opponents! Nothing could have been further from the truth. East Fife were more than a match for United on the day and were fully justified in feeling cheated out of a famous victory by the unreasonable amount of injury time added to the end of the match. As if to prove their point, East Fife again took the lead with a spectacular Stuart Wilson goal (which was featured in BBC Sportscene's 'Goal of the Month' competition) in the replay at Tannadice three days later and again the match finished all square at one goal apiece. The dreams of the large travelling support were dashed in extra time, however, when Duncan Ferguson scored what proved to be the winning goal. Disappointed at the result, but very proud of their team, the East Fife supporters gave the players a standing ovation at the end of the match. United went on to play Motherwell in the Final of the competition that year and narrowly lost the match 4-3 after extra time. Ironically, the man who scored the winning goal for Motherwell was former East Fife player and future Player-Manager Steve Kirk!

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