East Fife 1 Forfar Athletic 0

The ‘Loons’ lost their fourth consecutive away fixture in the Ladbrokes League 1 at New Bayview yesterday afternoon, but there were encouraging signs for the travelling support, especially in a spirited second-half showing.

Archie MacPhee made his first starting appearance in a Forfar jersey while Sean Burns was restored to the starting eleven, Rory Currie returning to the ranks on the substitute’s bench.

However the visitors got off to the worst possible start when Steven Boyd gave the home side the lead in the 8^th minute of the contest, the ‘Loons’ defence slow to react to a left-wing cross, the Fifers striker netting with a crisp finish from ten yards out.

The Athies had a couple of opportunities to retrieve the situation, but there were no takers for a Michael Travis nod back across the face of goal before a curling corner from the left avoided a couple of attacking options right underneath Jordan Hart’s crossbar.

Before the half time whistle however Darren Young’s side could count themselves unlucky not to add to their lead, Marc McCallum twice bringing off excellent saves to thwart the ever alert Ryan Wallace.

The home eleven had certainly edged the first 45, but the visitors without a doubt gave as good as they got in a hard-fought second period.

Ross Forbes saw an early free-kick fly just wide of the mark before Darren Whyte effected a goal-line clearance at the other end.

Forfar’s best chance of an equaliser came in the 67^th minute when Jordan Kirkpatrick ran unchallenged on to a superb cross from Ross Meechan only to see the home custodian parry his net bound effort wide of the mark.

Despite exerting some pressure in the closing stages there was no reward for the ‘Loons’ and to be fair precious few clear cut chances prior to the end of the ninety minutes.

Jim Weir’s side now have two successive home games on the horizon, Airdrieonians and Falkirk the opponents, followed by a trip to Montrose to look forward to and there is no doubting the fact that points gathering will be a top priority, as they now go into these contests sitting only three points above Stranraer in bottom spot.

The good news moving forward concerning Dale Hilson is that a second scan now that most of the swelling has disappeared has shown no break and he will hopefully return to training this coming midweek.