Due to some unforseen technical issues, there will be no audio recordings from Bayview Bites this week. I have, however, summarised the discussions I had with Robbie Neilson and Pat Clarke. Apologies for any inconvenience.

Robbie Neilson:
I started off by asking how much Robbie had enjoyed his East Fife career - Robbie said he'd enjoyed it. The boys are great, the only downside has been the results. He mentioned that he feels the facilites that East Fife have at their disposal are excellent and are up there with many Championship, if not Premiership, Clubs. He admits it is a lot better than what he'd expected! I then asked about the coaching side of things; he's wanted to go in to coaching for a little while now and has rejected offers during the Summer, in order to join East Fife as the coaching aspect is something that appealed to him while the other offers were purely playing contracts only. Himself and Gary Naysmith have taken up the reserves as it gives them good practise setting out tactics, doing team talks and so on. He feels they've not really had to input though as the boys have done all the hard work themselves and he's really happy with the start they've made to the Reserve League. I asked if Pat Clarke and Liam Buchanan grabbing a few goals in the Reserve match on Monday was a big confidence booster for them and while he acknowledged it would be, he felt, more importantly, it had given the whole Club a boost. I then asked about Forfar last Saturday - Scott Durie's goal was a little lucky due to the goalkeeper making an error and you felt that East Fife's luck was maybe just about to change, but then it fell away in the second half. I asked if getting back into the game so fortunately that it was annoying to lose the match. Robbie replied by saying that a lot of players just didn't perform on Saturday but the guys are good enough to win games in this league without any helping hands from Goalkeepers. I then asked if Stranraer away on Saturday is a "six-pointer" and he said that it's a massive game, it's very important and everyone knows how much 3 points would mean to the League positioning, as well as confidence within the players and the fans alike.

Pat Clarke:
I asked Pat that after his initial enthusiasm of being here if the start was disappointing. Pat was quick to make sure that he emphasised how early in the season it is and that the League is very tight. He said a win on Saturday and we could be back up to mid-table again and things look slightly more rosier. He acknowledges Stranraer away will be a tough game, and it is a big match as they are below East Fife, but he feels the team are good enough to win and that's all the players are focused on at the moment. I then spoke to him about Airdrieonians on Monday evening - grabbing 2 goals, did it boost his confidence? He replied that any player scoring goals, whether it is first team, reserve matches or training will always take a massive lift from it and he has and is raring to go on Saturday vs Stranraer, assuming he is chosen.

Once again, sorry for any inconvenience. Bayview Bites should be back to normal with the audio from next week.

Cheers,

Reporter.

Great work Burty. Did you forget to hit 'record'?

No, it did record, lol. I'm just having trouble transferring it from the zoom to the PC - I struggled last week with it too. I could go back to recording it on my phone but then the sound quality etc won't be as great. As I said, sorry for any inconvenience. The teething problems will hopefully be sorted out for next week. Thanks again for listening and any feedback, good or bad, is welcome!