East Fife 0-1 Stenhousemuir

Feb 10 2008 Jordan Costello At Bayview

SCOTT DALZIEL slammed home the winner as struggling Stenhousemuir brought the Fifer's title charge shuddering to a halt.

John Coughlin's men produced a dazzling display and were well organised from start to finish as they gave their play-off hopes a timely boost.

Now the Stenny boss has challenged his side to catch second-placed Montrose who are eight points ahead.

He said: "The league's over in terms of who will win it but our campaign isn't over and it's second place we're after.

"People will say we came here and were negative with a 4-1-4-1 formation but we had to do that to have a chance.

"I'm delighted for the guys as they defended well and the spirit we showed will give us belief going into the next game and we'll gain confidence from today's performance."

Goal hero Dalziel agreed with his gaffer that second place must be the target.

Hesaid: "Second plays third in the play-offs and that's an advantage. If we can beat East Fife we can beat anyone."

After a cagey start East Fife had a decent penalty shout in 10 minutes when Dougie Cameron's cross missed David Templeman and appeared to bounce up and hit Willie Lyle's hand but ref Frank McDermott waved away the appeals.

A minute later Bobby Linn's cross found the head of Lloyd Young but his effort flew wide.

In 20 minutes Stenny had a glorious chance when Brian McLaughlin surged past two players to get to the byeline.

He found Graham Gibson in the box who played in Alan Lindsay but he fired wide with an open goal at his mercy.

After 43 minutes Cameron played a great ball forward looking for Paul McManus but he was taken out of the play by Stewart McCulloch. Linn stepped up and curled in an effort that Ally Brown did well to get across to and keep out.

Stenny took the lead just after the restart when Lindsay's corner was pounced on by Paul Tyrell who swung it over.

Cameron and Steven Tweed let the ball go beyond them to the back post and Lindsay fed Dalziel who fired home.

The Methil men almost hit back straight away when Jonathan Smart's superb ball found Templeman who tried to play in McManus but Brown saved at his feet.

In 70 minutes Linn did brilliantly to skip away from three men but his effort was blocked by a sensational lastditch tackle by Gibson.

The leaders had another good chance when sub Craig O'Reilly picked out Young with a cross but he got his angles all wrong and the ball sailed wide.

Fifers boss Dave Baikie said: "We started flat and didn't have the right mentality. We were lethargic in the first half and were waiting for things to happen.

"Once we lost the goal we came into the game but it's hard when you're chasing it and they defended well."

HERO

ALAN LINDSAY produced a superb cutback for Scott Dalziel's winner. Dalziel will take the plaudits but it was Lindsay who didn't give up on Paul Tyrell's ball back into the box and reached it when the defence went missing.

VILLAIN

EAST FIFE defenders Dougie Cameron and Steven Tweed were badly at fault for the goal. Tyrell's ball back into the box should have been dealt with but both players fell asleep and it cost them the points.