East Fife2–0Dumbarton

DUMBARTON'S run of dismal form continued as East Fife cut the gap at the bottom of League One to just three points on Saturday.

Goals in either half from Kyle Connell and Danny Denholm secured three points for the Fifers as Sons lost for the fourth week in a row.

Boss Stevie Farrell introduced a change of shape from the start for the relegation scrap as he opted to go with the 3-5-2 formation adopted in the second half of the previous week's loss to Queen's Park.

Gregor Buchanan, Kalvin Orsi and Adam Hutchinson dropped out as Paddy Boyle returned to the side alongside Paul Paton after he missed out last week through suspension with Eoghan Stokes also handed a start.

But the afternoon couldn't have got off to a much worse start for Dumbarton as for the third week in a row they conceded the opening goal of the game in the first four minutes.

Leon Watson's low cross was missed by Stephen Bronsky, with the ball falling kindly for Denholm, who teed up Connell and he drilled a shot into the net from the edge of the box.

Conner Duthie had Sons' first opportunity on goal midway through the half but could only head straight at Jude Smith from Gregg Wylde's cross.

The hosts came back up the park immediately and Ryan Wallace drilled a teasing ball across goal that had no takers and 10 minutes later Connell cut in from the left, all too
easily past two Sons shirts, but was off target.

After the break, East Fife were awarded a free-kick in a dangerous position just seconds into the half, with Kieran Wright doing well to gather Scott Mercer's effort.

It looked certain that Stevie Crawford's side would double their advantage a minute later after Wright made a vital stop with his leg to keep out Connell; as the loose ball rolled towards Jack Healy, it seemed as if he would tap the ball into an empty net, but Paddy Boyle appeared from nowhere with a huge challenge to keep his teammates in the game.

At the other end, and not for the first time in the course of the the afternoon, a low ball across goal was only needing a Sons shirt to run onto it for a certain goal but there was no one following in.

Orsi and Callum Wilson were introduced just before the hour as Farrell tried to freshen things up, and Orsi was the latest to be left frustrated as his cross into a dangerous area was cleared away.

But just a couple of minutes later, Denholm doubled the lead for his side with his low shot from the edge of the area finding the bottom corner of the net.

Pignatiello had a close range shot cleared away by the feet of Smith and Paul Paton blazed the rebound over as Sons tried to get back into the game with Connell hitting the bar from six-yards ten minutes later.

Dumbarton's misery was compounded in added time when captain Stuart Carswell was sent off for dissent towards ref Calum Scott.

Farrell's side remain in the relegation play-off zone, and are now just three clear of the
Methil men and two behind Peterhead in eighth ahead of Falkirk's visit to the Rock this Saturday, March 19.