You could be forgiven for thinking for a moment that Santa Claus spent his Saturday afternoon at Cupar Hearts, but there was plenty of early festive cheer for the home side as they capitilised on the gifts presented to them.
In fairness to Cupar, their performance was very misleading when compared to their League position before today's game, but they adapted and dealt with the difficult conditions better and made Fossoway pay the price for their mistakes.
It was Cupar who started brighter with a spell of early pressure and corners culminating in Gilfillan's flicked header brought a save from Mark Robertson, whilst Andrew Reade tested the palms of the Cupar keeper in the 6th minute, while Ciaran Reilly had an effort blocked at close range.
Cupar took the lead in the 12th minute when Aaron Anderson slotted home after being put through by Lee Sibanda to give Robertson no chance. That advantage was doubled in the 19th minute when Sibanda beat the offside trap and lobbed the ball over the advancing Robertson to make it 2-0.
Reade gave Foss hope with a consolation goal just a minute later with a fine finish before the visitors were dealt a blow with Scott Sneddon coming off injured in the 27th minute.
Sibanda had another effort in the 38th minute as he ran onto a lay back to fire a low shot that Robertson was able to dive at full stretch to push around the post.
As the half came to a close, Simon Sanaghan picked up the game's only yellow card for a foul, whilst Fossoway were really struggling to adapt to the slippy conditions and were unable to get their fluid play going as well as they would like.
Within three minutes of the restart, Sibanda dealt the potentially killer blow to the game as he was put through and rounded Robertson to slide home into the net for 3-1. Robertson was again called into action in the 51st minute with a fine save.
Jamie Forrester had a low shot well saved in the 51st minute and Daniel Kenny had an effort saved on 57 minutes, with Forrester again having a shot well saved on the wide left position in the 59th minute. Play immediately swung to the opposite end and Robertson was the saviour again from Gary Reilly.
Reade again went close with a powerful low shot into the side netting on 61 minutes. With Foss battling to try and get back into the game, manager Allan Moody made a double change a moment later with Reade and Sanaghan departing for Charlie Marshall and Bertie Gonsales. But that move suffered a hammer blow literally moments later as Sibanda completed his hat-trick for Cupar by volleying home from the edge of the area to make it 4-1.
At the other end, Gonsales had two quick efforts denied in the 69th minute when a header from point blank range was deflected behind for a corner, and from the resultant set piece his header was saved by the Cupar keeper.
As Cupar's confidence was rising rapidly, with sub Laurie unlucky with a lobbed effort on 74 minutes, Foss were sapping away. The home side extended their lead in the 83rd minute when Laurie was put through and his effort was well saved by Robertson on the edge of his box, but such is the luck, the loose ball fell back to Laurie and his rounded the now grounded keeper for number 5.
Marshall netted a late consolation goal in injury time, drilling home a low drive from outside the area which beat the keeper at the near post.
Overall it was a disappointing result and performance against a side looking much better than their League position suggested. Speaking with manager Allan Moody after the game, he was quick to accept responsibility for the mistakes with how the formation set up and the changes made.
However, the team seemed to struggle to adapt to the difficult conditions and too many of the usually dependable players had an off-day. At times, Foss played some neat football but need to be tighter at the back, while more decisive and get back to the basics of putting the ball in the net instead of taking that one extra touch or lacking the courage to finish their chance at the first opportunity.
