Airdrie 1-0 East Fife

Things could barely have gone better for East Fife at the end of last weekend's round of fixtures, Darren Young's men winning their game while all around them lost.

Fast forward seven days, though, and the roles were reversed, East Fife's promotion challengers all picking up a win each, including Airdrie who saw off the Methil men on their own patch.

Although frustrating, if anything it shows that there will still be plenty of twists and turns to come before the season is out.

Young had that in mind when he was still positive about his side's chances speaking after a match which East Fife will feel they merited at least a point.

Instead it was the Diamonds who picked up the win, Dale Carrick's 16th minute strike all that separated the two.

Young said: "This won’t make or break the season, it’s only three points lost.

“We’re not getting excited but we’re still in the mix and have an opportunity next weekend against Montrose.

“If we win that game then we’re back saying that x, y and z can happen again."

Saturday's game at the Penny Cars stadium presented East Fife with the chance to claw back ground on the three teams above them.

They had been demolished the last time they visited Airdrie, but were a lot better this time out.

After a pretty cagey start to the game, the hosts took the lead on 16 minutes when ref Colin Steven pointed to the spot after Chris Higgins was judged to have hauled down Josh Kerr.

Dale Carrick stepped up and took the penalty but his shot was tame and stopped by Brett Long.

The ball broke loose and first to it was Carrick who made no mistake second time around.

East Fife responded well and came right back into the game.

Anton Dowds went close while Scott Agnew pulled a decent save out of Scott Gallacher.

East Fife were well on top and played some neat stuff in the middle of the park.

Too often, though, moves broke down when it came to the final pass or cross.

Agnew was presented with a terrific chance to pull the visitors level when he was released on Gallacher's goal.

The home defence managed to scramble back and did enough to make sure the Fife midfielder couldn't get a clean shot on goal.

In the closing seconds East Fife lost midfielder Ross Davidson who saw red for his second booking.