East Fife 2-1 Dumbarton

Following Tuesday night's defeat at Airdrie, there was still a very slim chance that a bad run of results could see the Fifers hauled into a nervy scrap to stay clear of the relegation play-offs.

They extinguished that threat in style at the weekend, the narrow margin of the victory not a fair reflection of how dominant Darren Young's side were.

The Fife manager made a few changes from the midweek loss, and two of those coming in, Jordan Hart and Aaron Steele, were both outstanding.

Across the park East Fife were very much on top of their game, stringing together some excellent passages of play.

At the centre of almost everything created was the in-form Danny Swanson and he played a key role in East Fife's opening goal.

The Fifers put together a neat move up the park with some terrific one-twos.

The ball was worked to Swanson who sliced open the Dumbarton defence and found Aaron Dunsmore.

Dunsmore took a first touch before slamming his effort high beyond Sam Ramsbottom.

Ramsbottom was by far the busier of the two goalkeepers and was relieved to watch a Miller Fenton cross lack a finish at the back post.

It was one way traffic as East Fife dominated and with just over 20 minutes to go they doubled their lead.

Liam Watt's corner was blocked but he was given a second chance to deliver and this time picked out Steele who had raced into the centre of the box to provide the finish.

The goal should have made for a comfortable end to the game for the Fifers but Dumbarton continued to battle and with 10 minutes to go pulled one back.

East Fife were robbed of possession inside their own box and the impressive PJ Crossan punished them by latching onto the loose ball and beating Hart.

Fife boss Young said: “Dumbarton have a lot to play for so it wasn’t going to be an easy game.

“We had a lot of bodies missing but the guys who came on showed up well.

“It’s the business end of the season now so the big thing was getting the three points and making sure things were done and dusted.”