East Fife 0-2 Montrose

The Fifers and Montrose, Saturday's visitors, have been closely matched over the past couple of season, but the Methil men can only look on with envy at Mo right now, the Angus side hitting the top of the league thanks to this win.

Three defeats in a row now mean the Fifers are sadly perched at the foot of the table.

They'll have another chance to remedy that on Saturday when Peterhead, who are one place and two points above East Fife, visit Bayview.

On Saturday goals from Graham Webster and Cammy Ballantyne secured all three points for Stewart Petrie's Angus side.

Darren Young admitted his team must find a killer instinct at both ends of the pitch.

“For the first 30 minutes we created chances but, at the moment, we’re not being ruthless in the opposition box or our own box," he said.“That’s not a good combination.“The players know what’s being asked of them, they know where they should be in certain situations, whether it’s corners of free-kicks.“Everybody knows the game plan and how we want to play so there are no excuses.“Other teams are doing better and punishing us for the slightest mistake.”

The Fifers started the game well and had a couple of chances to open the scoring both fell the way of striker Kyle Connell and on both occasions he had his efforts blocked by former East Fife keeper Allan Fleming.

Montrose took the lead against the run of play when the home side lost possession deep inside their own half.

They were punished, Webster collecting the ball, racing into the box and curling a magnificent effort beyond Scott Gallacher.

The goal really lifted the visitors and seemed to knock the stuffing out of East Fife.

Montrose started the second half well with Webster and Blair Lyons both going close.

They were worth their second goal when it arrived, Lyons squaring along the face of goal for Ballantyne to convert.