East Fife boss Gary Naysmith said his players deserve to take all the praise after their League One play-off win over Clyde on Saturday.
The Fifers managed to claw back the one-goal deficit from the first game with Clyde by winning 2-1 at Bayview.
The Methil men took the lead when Scott McBride headed in a Stephen Hughes free-kick before Kevin Smith’s late winner pushed the game into extra time.
In between, Scott Ferguson had replied for the visitors.
Naysmith hailed his side for their efforts.
He said: “You had players out there like Ross Brown who has had one training session after three and a half months out.
“He then played 45 minutes as though he’s never been away and I thought he turned the game when he came on.
“The biggest story though, which nobody knew, was Stevie Campbell. His gran passed away and he phoned me and said he didn’t think he could play.
“At quarter to one he was still in my office breaking his heart and for him to go out there and give that sort of performance, it was fitting he was man-of-the-match.
“He even then had the bottle to go up and take a penalty as well he deserves all the credit he’s going to get. The players put a lot into it and now we are looking ahead to another big game.”
East Fife almost took the lead early on in the match when Craig Johnstone’s corner kick needed to be clawed away from under Jamie Barclay’s crossbar.
But Naysmith’s men grabbed a deserved lead when Hughes’s pinpoint free-kick was glanced home by McBride.
It was almost two when Nathan Austin threw himself at a Marc McKenzie shot but was inches away from connecting.
The game was halted after East Fife keeper Greg Paterson took a nasty head knock.
The Fife goalie played on but was powerless to stop Clyde drawing level.
Scott Ferguson burst through the East Fife defence and went one-on-one with Paterson before sliding the ball home.
The Fife goalie must have been struggling as he was taken off at the break and replaced by Dylan Rooney and what an impact the teenage keeper would make.
The visiting fans attempted to put the youngster off with a series of chants aimed at him but the keeper took it all in good humour and gave them a few sarcastic waves back.
East Fife were huffing and puffing at the Clyde goal but the visitors were standing firm.
With it looking like the Methil men were about to go down, Smith hauled the aggregate scores level when he picked up a Nathan Austin knockdown and rifled home.
With the end of the 90 minutes approaching, the Fifers were handed a glorious chance to settle the tie. McBride was picked out inside the box but he lacked the composure of his team-mate Smith and couldn’t find a way past Barclay.
Extra time came and went without much incident that was spared for the shoot-out, which was filled with drama with Rooney saving three crucial spot-kicks.
With every outfield player except Fraser McGhee having taken a penalty it looked like the goalies would be next up.
But with the shoot-out in sudden death, McGhee sent his effort past Rooney’s post and put East Fife through to Wednesday’s play-off final first leg at Stirling.