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Fifers hold on to go seven points clear
DIVISION THREE

A HARD-FOUGHT 1-0 win at Stenhousemuir saw EAST FIFE go seven points clear at the top of the table.

Craig Smart grabbed the only goal of the game after 15 minutes when he latched on to Neil Jablonski’s low cross to net.

Stenny had missed a great chance to take the lead when Gareth Hutchison shot wide, and Mark Cowan also passed up a chance when he made a hash of a free header.

Craig O’Reilly came close for the visitors after the break, but Dave Baikie’s men were content to hold what they had.

“I thought we were the better side on the day, although they shifted things around at half-time and put us under a bit of pressure, especially from set-pieces,” said Baikie.

“We had a couple of narrow escapes but we did have one or two chances to score again ourselves.

“That is us seven points clear now and even though we have played a game more than most, it is points in the bag that count.”

The Fifers were without seven players and although the situation should ease a bit before Albion Rovers visit next week, Tom Courts is struggling after picking up a knock at Ochilview.

ARBROATH held on to second spot despite falling to a 2-1 defeat to Queen’s Park at Gayfield.

A reverse for close rivals Montrose took the sting out of Saturday’s result for the Lichties—one gaffer John McGlashan did not duck from.

“I never made any excuses as a player and I’m not going to look for them as a manager,” he said.

“Queen’s Park were the better team for most of the game and we were playing second fiddle to them in all of the areas that were important to get a result.”

Arbroath started brightly but went behind to an Alan Trouten strike in 22 minutes, an advantage which doubled when goal provider Richard Bowers netted eight minutes later.

A long-awaited Lichties revival was sparked on 71 minutes when a 30-yard Barry Sellars shot beat the fingertips of Mark Cairns.

The home side then had a flurry of activity in front of the visitors’ goalmouth but failed to secure a share of the points.

“In my opinion Queens Park deserved to win and if we had managed to get a draw out of it, it would have been a lucky point,” McGlashan added.

“We got a good goal and it gave everybody a lift, but it wasn’t a case of wave after wave after that.

“Our players were never at the races, but I’m not going to berate them because they’ve won five out of the last six games in the league.

“We’ve got to make up for it at Berwick and pick ourselves back up again. We’re a team that needs to be working our socks off.

“Our away form has been good and I hope we can get a bit of a run together again.”

MONTROSE’S unbeaten run ground to a halt with a 2-0 defeat away to Dumbarton, but Links Park manager David Robertson still reckons his men put in a winning performance.

“We’ve played worse and won.

“We created more chances than in any game so far, but couldn’t put them away. We didn’t have the will to win.”

It was the Sons’ unstoppable striker Scott Dobbie who proved the Gable Endies’ downfall. He scored in each half to help Dumbarton climb back in to the promotion chase.

On 29 minutes he made no mistake from the spot after being brought down by John Adam.

Montrose had gone five games without defeat and rallied as Andy Rodgers twice came close to equalising before the break.

The hitman sent a shot just wide and had a header cleared off the line by Craig Brittain.

A good opportunity was also wasted by Scott Michie who fired weakly at Stephen Grindlay from six yards.

After the break Dobbie signalled his intent when he dispossessed Barry Donachie but blasted his shot over the bar.

But he finally wrapped things up just five minutes from time, sweeping home from a David Craig header to seal the points.