Spiders fly past Shire to put the bite on Arbroath

Goals from Brian Wharton, John Carter and Darren Miller eased the Spiders over the line as they recorded a comfortable home triumph.

QP remain just three points off the pace at the top of the fourth-tier standings and MacPherson was once again delighted with the efforts of his players.

He said: "All credit to East Stirling, who made it difficult for us, but I actually thought we played within ourselves.

"The players put so much effort in and deserved the win. We had a frustrating result against Albion Rovers a couple of weeks back but the players have reacted brilliantly to that."

Victory for Queen's keeps them a point ahead of third-placed Rovers after they bounced back from their midweek defeat to Annan with victory over Elgin at Cliftonhill.

Boss Darren Young elected to ring the changes in a bid to spark his side back into life and it paid dividends as Scott Chaplain netted in either half and Marc McKenzie added a shine to the scoreline late on.

And Coatbridge assistant Sandy Clark was pleased with the reaction of the Rovers squad as they clinched a crucial three points.

He said: "The performances over the last few weeks haven't been quite what we have been looking for, that is why we made a few changes.

"We had a positive first half - it could have been more than one. The second goal gave us a cushion and we could have scored more but I am happy with 3-0."

At the other end of the table, Clyde remain second-bottom after they lost 4-0 to Berwick Rangers.

The Bully Wee are on a poor run of form and boss Barry Ferguson said: "That is the story of our season. We really struggle if we lose the first goal."

Elsewhere, Morton dropped to fourth in the League One standings as they were beaten 2-0 by promotion rivals Stranraer.

Ton stopper Sean Crighton saw red at Stair Park and boss Jim Duffy said: "The best team won. We made mistakes and Stranraer capitalised."