East Fife 2-0 Elgin City: Fifers keep Hester quiet and move into third after crucial win

Greig McDonald’s Fifers are now on 43 points from 30 matches played, and are now only six matches away from the end of the regular campaign.

At the MGM Timber Bayview Stadium on Friday, goals in either half from Aaron Steele and Alan Trouten sealed the three points for the home side.

Steele rose highest from an Alex Ferguson corner to direct the ball into the back of the net on 33 minutes, with veteran Trouten scoring from the penalty spot with ten minutes to go after Scott Shepherd was fouled by Daryl McHardy.

“I thought some of our football in the first half was really good,” East Fife assistant manager Paul Thomson told EFTV post-match. “We created some decent chances without having many clear-cut ones, but we went in at the break in the lead.

"After that, it was about telling the players to not switch off because Elgin are always a threat with Kane Hester up front. Tonight was actually the first time out of our games against them so far that we have dealt with him really well.

"That is a credit to Sam Denham and Stewart Murdoch at the back for handing him. Sam had a tough time last time up in Elgin so fair play to him for learning from that experience. He didn’t get a sniff really.”

Thomson was also pleased with his side’s ‘battling qualities' against the Moray outfit.

He added: “Teams always have a spell in games and they did. We dealt with it well however and rode it out. Previously we may have crumbled under that spell but instead we got numbers behind the ball and saw that spell out. It shows how far we have grown over the course of the season so far.”

Next up for East Fife is another home match, this time against fellow promotion hopefuls Annan Athletic, who sit directly below the Fifers in the table.

"It is a team that we are due a performance against,” Thomson said. “We need to take the game to them.”