​East Fife title bid back on track after 4-2 win v Spartans, reckons assistant manager Ian Campbell

​That third victory in their last seven games followed two defeats on the bounce, away to title rivals Edinburgh City by 5-2 a week previously and 3-0 at home to seventh-placed Stranraer the weekend prior, has teken them to within a single point of league leaders Peterhead and put them back in contention for the title, reckons Campbell.

“It's another two goals up and it’s three points at home, so let’s see if we can build on that,” the 71-year-old told East Fife TV afterwards. “I was really chuffed to be part of it all.

“I thought the players were absolutely magnificent.

“Today was about more than three points and I’m happy for the fans and more than happy for the players, though, because we’ve been off it for a myriad of different reasons but that’s us back – watch this space.

“We’ll just get better from now to the end of the season.

“We’ll start with performances and we’ll get results.”

Explaining the half-time turnaround that saw the Methil side go from 2-0 down to 4-2 up, Campbell added: “We were all disappointed but we all got our act together.

“We knew what we wanted to do, we knew how we wanted to play the ball quickly, we knew how we wanted to break their lines and we knew how we wanted to manage the game, and we did it.

“You may ask why the hell did we not do that from the start, but if I knew that, we’d be managing at Man United.”

Campbell has issued a warning to his squad to be wary of next opponents Forfar Athletic, a former club of his and his manager brother Dick, as they’re second from bottom and only three points off the foot of the table, so they’ll be scrapping for every point that they can get to stave off fear of relegation.

The Angus outfit took a point off table-toppers Peterhead at home on Saturday and three away to Stranraer on the road the weekend before and they’ll be hoping for further joy come 3pm this Saturday, warned Campbell, assistant gaffer at Station Park from 2008 to 2015.

“Obviously they’re a former club of ours and they’ve got our total respect,” he said. “That’ll be a hard, hard game.”

East Fife are unbeaten against Forfar so far this season, having got the better of them twice at home, by 1-0 in January and 2-1 last August, and drawn 0-0 at Station Park in October.