Queen's Park 1-0 East Fife

The Methil men looked to be heading for a deserved draw which would have seen the gap between themselves and ninth placed Dumbarton remain at seven points with nine to play for.

But Luca Connell’s penalty in the second minute of injury time consigned them to a defeat.

And that was compounded by Dumbarton taking a point from their home match with Peterhead.

The result is that East Fife must win their remaining three games and hope Sons lose theirs.

Games between East Fife and Queen’s Park have been tight this season and Saturday was no different.

Luca Connell was unlucky to see his free-kick come back off the crossbar after just a few minutes with East Fife’s Kyle Connell unable to divert his header on target from close range.

Louis Longridge and Ryan Blair had sights of goal for either side as the game flowed from end to end.

East Fife had goalkeeper Jude Smith to thank after his stunning stop from Connor Smith’s deflected drive kept the scores at 0-0.

The game was heading towards its conclusion when there was to be further late drama.

Kieran Millar was judged to have fouled Longridge two minutes into injury time and Connell stepped up and sent his finish straight down the middle.

Boss Stevie Crawford said: “That’s not a team that I saw that should be sitting at the bottom of the league.

“We went to Queen’s and gave them a run for their money.

“We had a game plan and allowed their centre halves at times to get on it.

“Credit to Kyle Connell, he had food poisoning during the week and we’re down to the bare bones with strikers as it is but he’s managed to last until just over half-time.”