Willie Aitchison said the most pleasing aspect of East Fife’s well-deserved 1-0 win over Airdrie was his side’s clean sheet.
The Methil men were worthy winners, despite a couple of late scares when Airdrie could have snatched what would have been a cruel equaliser.
In the end, though, it was an early Scott McBride strike which separated the sides.
Aitchison, whose side jumped from bottom spot to seventh following the win, said: “Not conceding a goal was the most pleasing thing as simple as that.
“We had a lot of chances and hit the woodwork three or four times, which is great but we’ve been doing that every week but losing a sloppy goal.
“They threw their big guys up front and started throwing in long balls which we knew they were going to do but we showed a lot of resilience.”
East Fife piled on the pressure from the kick-off and Liam Buchanan and Pat Clarke had already gone close before the deadlock was broken by McBride.
The midfielder created room for himself on the edge of the box before sending a shot towards the Airdrie goal which caught a deflection and found its way into the net.
It was all one-way traffic as Aitchison’s side simply battered the Diamonds.
Clarke was inches away from adding a second when his shot shaved the outside of the post before Gary Thom’s header came crashing back out from the underside of the bar.
The Methil men were driving forward in waves and Ross Brown’s shot again shaved the post before Clarke went close again.
With just the one-goal advantage there was always the chance Airdrie could sneak back into it but the Fife defence stood strong, Gary Thom and Steven Campbell absolutely solid at the back.
Airdrie had a couple of half-chances to net an equaliser, with Martin Hardie going close before Lewis Coult thought he should have been given a penalty for a handball on the goal line.
The Fifers had chances to wrap up the win, the best falling to Ross Brown, who headed over from six yards.