Liam Buchanan’s strike just after the break looked likely to secure East Fife three valuable points in their fight to draw clear of the relegation zone in League One.
However, Eddie Malone’s equaliser deep into injury time for a previously impotent Ochilview outfit deprived Gary Naysmith’s men of the victory they believed to be theirs.
“If before kick-off you had offered me a point here I would probably have taken it,” Naysmith said.
“As the game unfolded though, we looked to have won it until they scored that injury time goal and it feels like two points lost.
“To be fair, we were not great in the first half and our keeper Greg Paterson had a couple of fine saves and they missed another two good opportunities, but I don’t think they troubled us much after the break when we were much better and after we scored I didn’t think we would lose.
“I would definitely have taken a point at half-time because they missed three or four chances you would have expected them to score from in the first period.
“We used that as a positive to tell the players that we were still in it at 0-0 and the team was completely different in the second half.
“We dominated them until the last 10 minutes or so when they threw everything at it, as you would expect. They didn’t get to within 30 or 40 yards of our goal until then and we deserved to be in front.
“They went four up front, but I was still not unduly worried, but Marc McKenzie said that he made a tackle and the ball hit off one of their players to go behind our two centre-halves and Malone went on to score.
“It feels like a defeat in those circumstances, but if you look at the amount of chances created you would have to say Stenhousemuir deserved a point.”
Stenny could have led by the interval, but Darren Smith was twice thwarted by visiting keeper Paterson’s brilliance and on another two occasions the same player headed wide from six yards with the goal gaping.
Things changed dramatically after the restart when the Fifers broke upfield and, as the home defence stood static, former Dunfermline and Partick striker Buchanan rattled an angled shot high into the net from 10 yards.
Stenny mounted a last-ditch effort and few would deny that Malone’s late, late show was less than the home side deserved.
Interim Warriors manager Brown Ferguson said: “We should have won it in the first half, but credit to the players, they never give in and their attitude was rewarded with a point at the end.”