Little praises Berwick’s spirit as he settles in for the remainder of the season

Berwick interim manager Ian Little will be looking to celebrate the news that he is charge until the end of the season with a win. He said: “The players have shown great spirit to come back from a couple of goals down in recent games but we do need to stop giving teams leads. If we can do that and get in front and win, it will be a good start to 2012.”

The play-off-chasing Shielfield side will be missing Steve Notman through suspension when they entertain Montrose, with defensive duo Chris McLeod and Elliot Smith both ruled out with injury.

Montrose are without Stephen McNally, who has an ankle knock, while Paul Lunan is sidelined by a toe injury. Manager Ray Farningham is looking for his side to find some consistency. “It was a great effort to defeat Peterhead last week,” he said. “If the players do that again we may just get back-to-back victories for the first time this season.”

Clyde v Queen’s Park

Clyde, who have lost to Queen’s Park five times in a row, will be without captain Paul Hay through a ban with Gavin Brown and Declan Gallacher also absent due to knocks. Manager Jim Duffy said: “Queen’s Park are a well-organised side and we lost 3-0 to them at Hampden in the middle of December, but things would have been very different if we had taken some of the chances we created.”

Queen’s Park will miss Darryl Meggatt due to a family commitment and they also have a major doubt over Martin McBride, who is struggling with a calf injury. The injured quartet of Michael O’Hara, Steven Baillie, Tony Quinn and Giuseppe Capuano continue to be absent.

East Stirlingshire v Alloa

Bottom side Shire welcome back defender Iain Chisholm, but they have lost on-loan Craig Winter, who has been recalled by Cowdenbeath. Ryan Frances sits out game eight of his 14-match ban and striker Jordyn Sheerin is out with an ankle knock. Manager John Coughlin said: “Alloa are on a great run of nine games without a defeat but we drew up there and a repeat of that performance would be great.”

Second-place Alloa, who can go top with a win, will be missing Ben Gordon as a result of the red card he received against Elgin, and Peter Innes and Ross McCord are both doubts.

Peterhead v Elgin City

Peterhead have a full squad available for the first time since Jim McInally took over in October, with Barry Sellars and Paul Watson having recovered from illness. McInally said: “The clubs may be about 70 miles apart but this is viewed as a derby match. I am hoping that we can keep things tight at the back and give the fans a home win.”

Elgin have problems, with player/assistant manager Barry Wilson, Brian Cameron, Fraser Forbes, Scott Miller, Darryl McHardie, Steven Edwards, Blair Lawrie all unavailable due to work or family commitments, and Paul Kaczan and Craig Frizzell still out through injury.