Brechin City 2-1 East Fife

The Fifers were stunned by Andy Jackson's late winner.

It wasn’t a great afternoon at the office for the Methil side who’ll believe they could have created more at one end and been a bit meaner at the other.

But when you’re not playing well, it’s imperative to dig in and grind out the draw, and that was what it looked like East Fife were about to do.

That was until the very closing stages when Andy Jackson’s stunner secured the win for Brechin.

To be fair it was a goal fit to win any game, which, of course, is no consolation to the Fifers.

On a positive note the side won’t have to wait long to get the result out of their system, with a trip to Albion Rovers set for Tuesday night.

East Fife have shown the character to bounce back before, and boss Barry Smith is preparing to do just that again.

He said: “The Brechin game is one result and we now look at the next and make sure we prepare properly and get the boys ready for it.

“In the dressing room they’re very despondent because they know they’re better than that.

“What it comes down to is that we’ve had a good defensive record but lost two bad goals.

“We shouldn’t have been conceding them.”

Spring had certainly sprung at Glebe Park and the players took to a pitch bathed in sunshine.

And it led to a bright opening spell with Kevin Smith going close at one end and Gary Fusco the other.

The Glebe Park surface would give a tattie field a bad name and it made playing the ball along the deck almost impossible.

Both sides did their best to play football on what sections of grass there were but the game started to peter out.

That was until Brechin grabbed the advantage out of the blue.

Liam Watt managed to work a bit of space for himself on the edge of the area and that was all he needed to get his shot away and beat Mark Hurst.

The Fifers hadn’t posed as much of an attacking threat as they’d have wanted in the first half but looked reinvigorated after the break.

They were soon level when Chris Duggan was clattered over inside the box by Fusco.

Duggan stepped up himself and dispatched a typically cool penalty kick.

The goal kickstarted the Methil men and they went on to enjoy a decent spell of possession.

Smith was unlucky not to put East Fife ahead when his free-kick drifted over the bar.

Just as it looked like East Fife were going to hold on for a big point in the promotion play-off race, Jackson smashed home his volley after Hurst had punched clear a corner.