Albion Rovers 0 East Fife 1: Wasteful Rovers hit by second half sucker punch

Albion Rovers suffered a third defeat on the spin after East Fife struck in the second half to stun their dominant hosts.

The Coatbridge side controlled the game for large parts, but passed up some huge chances to leave them bottom of League Two and pointless after three games of the campaign.

Liam Newton's header after 67 minutes was all that separated the two sides at a sweltering Cliftonhill.

Brian Reid's men are now 14 games without a home win in all competitions, stretching back to December last year when they beat Stranraer on Boxing Day.

Reid made a host of changes from the midweek SPFL Trust Trophy defeat to Celtic B, having handed a number of fringe players an opportunity on Tuesday night.

Jack Leighfield returned in goal, while Ayrton Sonkur, Scott Roberts, Kieran Dolan, Lewis Kidd and James McGowan also came back in. Out went Chris Smith between the stick, as well as Adam Fernie, Devan McColl, Barry Duncan, Max Wright and Amaury Testa.

Kieran Dolan spurned two early chances in the opening three minutes for Rovers, first skewing a shot off target in the penalty area and then seeing a close-range strike deflected out for a corner kick.

From the resulting set-piece, James McGowan volleyed over as he tried an acrobatic effort inside the six yard box.

It was a bright start for the hosts and it continued in the 20th minute when Rovers failed to capitilise on another couple of quick-fire chances. Callum Wilson showed great footwork on the edge of the box to beat his man and tee up Dolan, but the striker saw his shot blocked.

The loose ball broke to captain Sean Fagan on the edge of the box and when his drive cannoned back off the post, Fifers keeper Allan Fleming had lady luck on his side as it came back off him and