Goalkeeeprs Johnny Niven and John Thomson pass on

East Fife hero Johnny Niven has passed away a month short of reaching his 90th birthday. The goalkeeper was a member of the Fife club during their golden age, just after the Second World War, and he helped them lift the League Cup and the Division B Title in season 1947/48.

Niven left the club in 1951 for Kilmarnock and reached another League Cup Final although he was on the losing side this time as Dundee defeated the Rugby Park club 2-0. Niven, who was one of the last surviving members of East Fife’s cup winning team, was invited to New Bayview in August 2008, along with team-mate Willie Finlay, to see Dave Baikie’s side raise the Third Division Championship Flag, 60 years after the club's previous Championship success that he had been part of.

Niven’s funeral will take place on Monday, April 11 at Woodside Crematorium in Paisley at 1.00 p.m. with an East Fife spokesperson saying, “Everyone connected with the club would like to extend our condolences to Johnny’s wife Mary, their son Gordon and daughter Norma.”

Queen’s Park have announced that one of their oldest former players, goalkeeper John Thomson, has passed away at the age of 96.

Thomson kept goal for the Spiders nearly 75 years ago with his family advising the club that he had kept the letter the Hampden side had sent him asking him to join them throughout the rest of his life.