East Fife 1-0 Forfar Athletic

The visitors arrived at the game with the incentive of knowing a victory over their hosts would see them leapfrog East Fife into third.

But the Methil men have made that position in behind the leading two their own in recent months and would be in no mood to give it up lightly.

East Fife had taken Forfar to pieces at Station Park earlier in the season, putting on arguably their performance of the season in a 4-0 win.

Jim Weir's side have clearly improved since then, and with decent attacking options looked a threat going forward.

East Fife have found a real mean spirit at the back though over the past couple of weekends and were back to doing what they did a couple of months back, defending stoutly and putting bodies on the line.

It's not pretty at times, but supporters will have been delighted to see that determination not to concede return.

Forfar had the better of what little was created in the opening half, John Baird's cross along the face of goal evading Dale Hilson's touch by a couple of inches.

Although they had the bulk of possession, the visitors didn't really do a great deal with it, something boss Jim Weir conceded post match.

The Fifers showed they could be a threat in attack themselves, and Scott Agnew was unlucky with a drive which clipped the outside of the post.

It hadn't been the best opening 45 of East Fife's season and they needed to improve after the break.

Darren Young gave it 10 minutes but had clearly seen enough, introducing Scott Linton and Kevin Smith.

The switch moved the momentum of the game into East Fife's favour and although Forfar again went close with a Mark Hill free-kick, it was the home side who looked more likely to net the longer the game went on.

Anton Dowds had led the line superbly for the Fifers and went close to opening the scoring with a header which dropped inches past the post.

East Fife were starting to find their range, and eventually got their noses in front with six minutes left of the game,

Agnew picked the ball up on the edge of the box and criminally Forfar allowed him onto his favoured left foot.

The Methil midfielder punished them in style, curling a sublime effort into Marc McCallum's right corner.

Home boss Darren Young said: "We let them play in front of us and made it hard for them to break us down.

“When they did either Brett Long was there or a defender or midfielder blocking and getting a tackle in.

“We tweaked it after the break and brought a couple of boys on to try and get into the game.

“Scott Agnew then has a wee moment of magic and smashes it into the corner.”