Queen's Park 1-0 East Fife

It wasn't a great afternoon at the office for and East Fife side which really didn't look itself from the off.

The club's nursing an injury list which includes some of its key players while others have been ill across the past seven days.

Add that to the fact there was no competitive game last Saturday and you can understand why the side had an off day.

The game was barely 15 minutes old when the hosts got their noses in front.

Their was more than a hint of luck about the opener, though, with Gregor Fotheringham's drive from the edge of the box catching a deflection off Jonathan Page and beyond Mark Hurst.

The opener had arrived after some decent East Fife pressure, but once they had their lead, Queen's looked the side most likely to grab the game's crucial second goal.

East Fife had to throw their bodies on the line to keep the deficit at one, with Jonathan Page and Mark Hurst doing well to block goal bound efforts.

They event had their opponents to thank for putting in a crucial block, with Aiden Malone firing off Paul Woods from six yards out.

Gus MacPherson has his sides notoriously well drilled and East Fife found them a tough nut to crack.

Hurst was the busier of the two keepers and he was again called into action to tip a Darren Miller corner over the bar.

Assistant boss Dougie Anderson said:

“Queen’s Park are a dogged team and we knew what we were coming to.

“We just couldn’t break them down and didn’t have that quality in the final third in terms of opening them up.

“We’re disappointed.

“We missed a game last Saturday so maybe just lacked that bit of sharpness.

“Our use of the ball also could have been a bit better.