Falkirk 2-0 East Fife

Falkirk kept pace with league leaders Cove Rangers and left East Fife still searching for their first win of the new season.
East Fife are left cursing their luck after Akeel Francis doubles Falkirk's lead. Picture by Michael Gillen.East Fife are left cursing their luck after Akeel Francis doubles Falkirk's lead. Picture by Michael Gillen.
East Fife are left cursing their luck after Akeel Francis doubles Falkirk's lead. Picture by Michael Gillen.

In near monsoon conditions at the Falkirk Stadium, goals either side of the break from Robbie Leitch and Akeel Francis were enough to ensure the points stayed with the home side.

The win put the Bairns to within two points of Cove and sent the Fifers to the bottom of the division with just three games played.

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The hosts rarely looked in trouble throughout the 90 minutes with East Fife uncharacteristically blunt in attack.

They failed to really put any pressure on PJ Morrison's goal while, at the other end, Falkirk demonstrated a ruthlessness up front.

The best chances of the opening stages all went the way of Falkirk with former Fife striker Anton Dowds a thorn in the side.

He screwed a shot inches wide after just three minutes before passing up a couple of decent chances as the home side dominated.

It was little surprise when the opening goal arrived.

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Another ex-Fifer, Callumn Morrison, swung in an inviting cross to the back post which Robbie Leitch did brilliantly to get on the end of and lash past Brett Long from a tight angle.

The second half was barely minutes old when Falkirk doubled their lead.

Blair Alston's corner was nodded across the face of goal by Mark Durnan and first to react was Akeel Francis who finished from close range.

East Fife enjoyed their best spell of the game in the closing stages but Falkirk never really looked threatened.

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Thomas Collins added some fresh legs in attack but the game was beyond Darren Young's side.

Home co-boss David McCracken said: "I thought there were spells of the game, especially in the second half, when we were in control.

"There were some good performances and the two strikers linked up well.

"We caused problems for them with our quality.

"It was a hard working performance but difficult with the conditions but the boys dealt well with it.

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"We started the game really well which is important because you can catch teams cold."

Opposite number Darren Young said his side needed to develop more of a killer instinct.

"It was a stuffy game and they had one or two wee half chances early on, but nothing much," said the Fife boss.

"We managed to get into the wide areas a few times but our final ball was lacking and we never tested their keeper enough.

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"We'll look towards Dumbarton now who are another part-time team in the league.

"They had a good result today (beating Airdrie 2-0 away from home) so they'll be up for it and we'll need to make sure we're up for it too and be as prepared as we can."