East Fife racked up their fifth league win on the bounce at the weekend and earned praise from gaffer Barry Smith.
In particular the Bayview boss heralded the work ethic of his squad after Scott Robinson’s first-half strike kept the three points in Methil.
It was a win which saw the Fifers keep pace with the promotion play-off chasers and ease them further away from the foot of the division.
Smith said: “The players are working hard, but there’s also a bit of quality in there as well.
“We give ourselves a good base to work from with our work ethic.
“Then you have guys who have quality who can finish games.
“The finish from Scott Robinson was brilliant.”
The game started positively for the home side and Robinson almost got clear on the Stenny goal when chasing a looping through ball, only for Colin McCabe to get off his line and collect.
East Fife didn’t have to wait too much longer to break the deadlock, with the impressive Robinson again in the thick of things.
Kevin O’Hara’s ball beat the Stenny defence and sent Robinson in on goal.
He shrugged off his marker before this time beating McCabe.
Stenny stayed in the match.
Teenage winger Willis Furtado seems destined for big things, and went agonisingly close to levelling matters when his drive came crashing back off the post.
The home side looked to put the game to bed early in the second 45, and within minutes of the restart came close to doing just that.
Ross Brown raced clear of the Stenny midfield and picked out O’Hara on the edge of the box. The forward got his shot away but could only watch on as it curled around the post.
Just one goal behind, the visitors were never out of things and an equaliser wouldn’t have been a complete injustice.
They almost got it in the dying minutes when Alan Cook’s crashing drive was beaten away by Mark Hurst in the home goal.
