Only hard work will turn it around for East Fife

That’s according to stand-in boss Stevie Frail who concedes the Bayview players need to do more to put a winning run together.

Frail was in the dugout at the weekend as East Fife slipped to a sorry 2-1 loss away from home in the Scottish Cup to Banks O’ Dee.

The cup defeat compounded what has been a miserable few months for the club who are also on the foot of League One going into Saturday’s game against Alloa Athletic.

East Fife are unlikely to appoint a successor to Darren Young before then and Frail will again take the side.

There will be no quick fix to the club’s fortunes, but one thing the Fifers do have on their side is time.

Frail is urging the squad to look at themselves and start to demand more of each other.

“They are a nice bunch of players who get on great,” he said.

"There were a few choice words in the dressing room (after the weekend’s loss), and rightly so, but I don’t think they don’t dig each other out enough.

"They don’t demand enough of each other.

"That’s not just in this game, it’s game that have gone on previously.

"To take this result in isolation, it’s a horrendous result, it’s an embarrassing result.

"There’s a lot of work to be done to try and arrest the form we’re in and to get some league points.”

The Fifers are currently welcoming applications for the manager’s position.