Alloa Athletic 0 - 1 Dunfermline Athletic: Anderson keeps Pars in fourth

Dunfermline have found a habit they will not want to give up. For the fifth consecutive game, they kept a clean sheet, scored in the second half and racked up the victory.

Dunfermline Athletic striker Bruce Anderson. Picture: SNS

On-loan Aberdeen striker Bruce Anderson swept in the only goal of a below-par encounter just seven minutes after the break to keep the Fifers in fourth spot and firmly back in the hunt for a promotion play-off berth. Yet again, it was not pretty, but they got the job done.

“It’s probably like a boxing match in the early rounds, where they’re going toe to toe with each other,” said manager Stevie Crawford, who was this week named Championship manager of the month for February. “And then it’s not until the later stages that the quality, certainly for ourselves, is starting to come through.

“But, in terms of effort, commitment and even passion, it’s starting to show now.”

Alloa felt they should have been awarded an early penalty but dropped to the foot of the table after being unable to breach a resilient Dunfermline defence.

“I thought it was a poor game of football,” said manager Jim Goodwin. “It was as bad as we’ve played all season.”