‘You got us there before, you can do it again’ says East Fife boss

A 2-0 win for Montrose at Bayview saw them leapfrog East Fife, into fourth position and into the driving seat to reach the play-offs.

There are still three games to go and nine points to play for, and Young wants to see his side get back to the form they showed in the early part of the year.

He said: “The same players who got us to where we were are the same players who have been playing over the past few weeks and can get us back up there again.

“I’ve watched the game back and again we’ve created some amount of chances.

“Kevin Smith has taken a couple of shots from 20 yards when he’s had a pass to Scott Agnew and Liam Watt on.

“Scott Agnew had a decent chance when all he needed to do was get the ball onto his right foot.

“Another couple of times we’ve got ourselves into good positions and hit the first defender.

“Mark Docherty put in a good cross to Liam Watt and instead of him putting it back to Anton Dowds he has a header which their keeper saves.

“It was the same last week against Airdrie, we’re creating all these chances but not hitting the net. It’s frustrating.”

With Montrose facing a tough run-in to the end of the season, having to play Airdrie, Forfar and Raith Rovers, there are still likely to be a few twists and turns before the campaign ends.

But East Fife must make sure in those coming games that they are in position to take advantage of any slip-ups.

And that means taking all three points from their trip to Dumbarton on Saturday.

East Fife held on to their place inside the top four for some time while others lined up to shoot them down.

Now it’s the Methil men who are looking to claw back ground on those above them.

That change of mentality may give the Fifers a fresh impetus ahead of the final three games of the season.

Montrose claimed, following Saturday’s win at Bayview, they’d been barely looking above them this campaign, content to just stay in the division.

Now they find themselves inside the top four, and it’ll be interesting to see how they deal with the swift change in priorities.

Bayview boss Darren Young said: “Montrose did well at the weekend.

“They’ve maybe surprised a few people this season but not me, I know the quality they have.

“It’s not in our hands but we’re clinging on and if we can pick up some points then the opportunity is still there for us.

“It’s a different pressure now for Montrose and we’ll go from being chased to the chaser.

“I’m pretty sure it was in their mind on Saturday that, if they beat us, then they’d be inside the top four.”

East Fife have back to back away games coming up, firstly away to Dumbarton this weekend and then Stenhousemuir seven days later.

Young’s side’s record against the Sons this campaign hasn’t been great, so there would be no better time to finally get one over on them.

“Dumbarton are a bit of a bogey team for us,” conceded the Fife boss.

“We’ve put ourselves into this position now so it’s up to us to get back out of it again.”

The Fifers will be without on-loan Hearts striker Rory Currie this weekend.

Jonny Court is also struggling with a rib injury with Craig Watson now out for the season.

But there is some brighter news on the injury front for East Fife.

Scott Linton, Ross Dunlop and Stewart Murdoch are set to return.