East Fife boss Gary Naysmith hopes his side have given themselves a platform from which to build upon after a positive start to the calendar year.
The weekend’s convincing 3-0 win over Montrose was their second victory on the bounce, and followed two creditable draws against Queen’s Park and Arbroath to start 2015.
That has seen them close the gap on fifth-placed Berwick to just two points and, if the Fifers continue in the vein of form they are in, Naysmith could be forgiven for having fourth-placed Annan who are just five points ahead having played two games more in his sights.
“What we want now is a situation where the team’s playing well and it’s up to the guys playing every week to prove that they want to keep the jersey,” he commented.
“It’s not a threat but I’ve said to the players that if they go out of the team they might struggle to get back in.
“We’ve got a really good squad of 18 players now who will expect to play every week, so if they don’t perform there will be someone determined to take their place.
“I think we did good business in January with three or four out and three or four in, and we’ve managed to save some money on wages which is very important to the club as well.
“I think we’ve got a stronger squad than when we started January and we now need to go on a run and get some wins together.”