East Fife endured a strange season in League One. They were struggling just above the relegation zone when manager Gary Naysmith proved to be a somewhat surprising choice to take charge of Queen of the South in the Championship, and with the introduction of new boss Barry Smith, they enjoyed a swift up turn of fortunes. The defensive line was immediately his priority to tighten up and it became quickly evident that there was much more of an organised structure to the team. Jonathan Page and Chris Kane flourished under the new leadership, with the former one of the outstanding defenders in the whole of the league. Meanwhile, the Fifers were boosted by the return of Chris Duggan going forward. He had missed much of the first half of the campaign due to injury, but when he came back into the panel in January, it coincided with a good run of form, much of which was aided by his potency in front of goal. Injury problems were something that the Fifers struggled to fight against for the duration of the season. Mark Lamont started the campaign brightly down the flank, but his chances of being a key player were hampered by repeated problems. Scott Robinson and Kyle Wilkie would similarly suffer for the Methil outfit, whose moment stalled in the spring before petering out entirely at the end of the campaign. Their strong form over the winter period should have sealed a playoff berth, but they took just five points in their last eight matches under the weight of chronic injury problems that were exacerbated as Jamie Insall failed a drugs test. With only a small squad to select from, they did not have a great chance of overcoming these issues and they proved to be crippling in the end. Although the season finished on a low, there is a solid base to build upon, but injury issues must be avoided.
