East Fife manager Dick Campbell hinted that he is already thinking about the January transfer window after watching his team go down 3-0 away to Queen of the South last Saturday.

The Fifers have enjoyed a strong start to the Scottish League One season having been promoted via the play-offs last season, but they dropped to sixth spot after last weekend’s heavy loss. And it the manner of the defeat that angered Campbell – with his side down 2-0 after eight minutes when Liam Smith and Jack Stott were gifted goals.

The third from Kurtis Guthrie on the hour mark wasn’t much better, with the forward heading home from close range following poor marking.

Speaking to East Fife TV, the raging boss said: “It is not a difficult one to assess... you have to take that as a manager. How you get beat when you do is really important to me. I don’t want to be part of a performance like that – it isn’t my scene. It’s not my style and it is not what we are building here at East Fife.

East Fife boss Dick Campbell wasn’t happy with his side’s subpar showing against Queen of the South last Saturday afternoon (Photo: Michael Gillen)

placeholder image — East Fife boss Dick Campbell wasn’t happy with his side’s subpar showing against Queen of the South last Saturday afternoon (Photo: Michael Gillen)

"We gave them three goals. The difference between the two teams was simple. We didn’t have a shot because their defenders were magnificent. They defended how I would want my team to defend. We gifted them three goals from defensive errors and how are we meant to be able to recover from that?”

The Fifers now host high-flying Stenhousemuir this Saturday as they chase the chance of a double promotion and Championship football next term.

They faced KDM Evolution Trophy league-phase action against Edinburgh City on Tuesday while this newspaper went to press too.

And with the winter period now well and truly upon us, Campbell admitted that he has eyes on improving his squad after a Dumfries disasterclass.

He added: “We had over 200 fans down here watching us – good, working-class people who have travelled all the way down to Dumfries and we served them up that. That won’t happen on my watch again.

"Do you know what is creeping up on us... the (transfer) window. We’ve lost too many games so far. You start to believe that you are better than you are sometimes. We are a basic team. Christmas came early for Queens. There’s no doubt about that.”