Match Analysis: East Fife v Falkirk

Falkirk Statistics

Competition: Scottish League Scottish Cup League Cup
Matches Played 57 3 8
East Fife Wins 22 2 4
Falkirk Wins 19 1 3
Drawn Matches 16 0 1

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

Matches Played 68
East Fife Wins 28
Falkirk Wins 23
Drawn Matches 17

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

East Fife 109 Falkirk 116

The first of East Fife's three League Cup final wins was against Falkirk in 1947. A crowd of 52,781 watched the two sides fight out a no scoring draw at Hampden Park on 25 October. East Fife created most of the chances in a match where both goalkeepers were in top form. East Fife's best chance over the 120 minutes play was a Dougie Davidson piledriver which Falkirk 'keeper (and future East Fife Manager!) Jerry Dawson did well to save. A disappointing crowd of 30,664 turned out at Hampden to watch the replay the following Saturday and, ironically, it was a goalkeeping error by Falkirk's Dawson which gave the Methil side the lead in only 8 minutes. The 'keeper misjudged a cross from Davie Duncan and Tommy Adams was on hand to nudge the ball home. In sixteen minutes East Fife went two up - and again Dawson was at fault. The Falkirk custodian failed to grasp a cross from George Aitken and this time it was Davie Duncan who was on hand to fire the ball home. Falkirk then came more into the game and equalised through Aikman on the half hour mark. The 'Bairns' then piled on the pressure for the remainder of the first half and most of the second, but the Fife defence held out. With ten minutes left, Davie Duncan collected the ball near the left corner flag and sent in an inswinging lob which sneaked in at the far post and, two minutes from the end, completed his hat trick to make the final score 4-1 for East Fife. This was the first and so far the only time that the League Cup was won by a Second Division side - a remarkable feat which East Fife had previously matched by winning the Scottish Cup as a Second Division side in 1938!

The East Fife team for both matches was: Niven; Laird, Stewart; Philp, Finlay, Aitken; Adams, D.Davidson, Morris, J.Davidson and Duncan

Below: Davie Duncan, scorer of three of the East Fife goals in the League Cup Final replay on 1 November 1947



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