East Fife can play a game of leapfrog

East Fife manager Darren Young says his players can rise to the challenge again as they host Partick Thistle tonight.

The Fifers return to league duty this evening after defeat to Morton in the Scottish Cup – after losing the lead to a controversial injury-time penalty.

A victory at Bayview would see them leapfrog Ian McCall’s men into fourth spot in League 1.

Young said: “I cannot praise the players enough for their efforts so far. The fact Morton had a full week to prepare for the game on Saturday and we had a full week of games speaks volumes for my players.

“From the boys who started to the guys who came on, I thought they were absolutely tremendous.

“We knew we would need a bigger squad with the relentless set of games between now and the end of the season and the most pleasing thing for us as a coaching staff is knowing that whenever we make changes, they do not make us weaker.

“We head into another game against another fulltime team and it is an early kick-off, so it really does not give us much time to recover at all.

“The boys are starting to feel the games now. There are quite a few tight and stiff muscles in the dressing-room so we will need to make use of the squad again.

“We were at a bit of a disadvantage on Saturday because we had three strikers out. Ryan Wallace was feeling something and another two guys were cuptied, so we should have those three back.

“Danny Denholm was struggling as well but managed to come on and give us the last half-hour. We literally cannot ask any more than they are giving us.”

● Montrose manager Stewart Petrie insists the Links Park men are only focused on securing League 1 safety, despite sitting third, as they prepare to travel to Dumbarton.

The Gable Endies, the league’s highest scorers, head to the division’s least prolific side in the Sons but Petrie says they have to remain grounded.

He said: “Without a doubt, we need to aim for safety first. That has not changed. Until we are mathematically safe, eighth is the number we strive for.

“Had we lost to East Fife last midweek we would have dropped out the top five, so it shows you how little you can take for granted. League 1 status is so important to the club, anything else is a bonus.

“I was not actually aware we were top scorers in the league until the other day, so that is reassuring especially when I keep getting stick about not having an out-and-out number nine.”

● Forfar Athletic manager Stuart Malcolm has urged his players to give themselves a fighting chance ahead of the visit of

Peterhead. The Loons sit bottom of League 1 but have progressed to the last 16 of the Scottish Cup, where they will face Dundee United and Malcolm hopes his players can build on their recent performances.

He said: “I feel like we have improved massively over the last couple of weeks. We have started this year, including just before the break much better and hopefully we can turn good performances into more wins.

“This sort of schedule is totally unprecedented, I have never known teams to play this number of games so quickly in my whole career. All our analysis is done on the next game. The variables are changing so quickly at the moment.”