We deserved a point, says East Fife boss Greig McDonald after Sons defeat

The Sons picked up the three points at home thanks to Martin McNiff's second-half strike, in a match that saw both side’s fail to covert from the penalty spot.

The Fifers are still in pole position for a play-off spot with two games to go despite the loss, after Forfar Athletic and Stenhousemuir also lost.

“I think a draw would have been a fair result, with maybe us just shading it,” McDonald said of the result. “The match was just one of those games that had nothing really in it, so to come away without a point at least was really disappointing.

“It was a horrible pitch and it was dry and bobbly. It was difficult to play any sort of football on the day but I thought we had the better chances, but fair play to Dumbarton, they were back to doing what they have done for most of the season.

“They managed to dig the result out. We dealt with them really well but switched off at one moment and it cost us the game. We have a decent account of ourselves.

“We take it on the chin and move on.”

On the fact that the loss didn’t see them drop out of fourth spot due to other results, he added that his side need to just focus on themselves heading into the final two outings.

“It is one less game to navigate now and they didn’t gain any ground on us,” he said of Forfar and Stenhousemuir. “But at the same time if we got that point even, it would have really helped us further, so I don’t look into that too much.

“We have to focus on ourselves, especially with the goal difference possibly being key. It was some sort of silver lining that no on gained on us.”

Next up for East Fife is a home match against bottom club Albion Rovers. Ahead of that one, McDonald said: “Saturday will be really difficult and they are fighting for their lives. We want to put ourselves in the best place possible for the final game up in Forfar – if it comes down to that game, then we would have certainly taken that earlier on the season when it looked like we weren’t really challenging at all.