From The Courier.Rival bosses Willie Aitchison and Paul Sheerin agreed that there’s virtually nothing to separate the vast majority of teams in League One this season.
The East Fife and Arbroath gaffers believe that, with the exception of Rangers, all clubs in the division will take points off each other.
The managers were speaking after watching East Fife beat their visitors thanks to goals from Scott Durie and Liam Buchanan.
Alan Cook netted for Sheerin’s side, who had Colin Hamilton sent off with Durie also seeing red for the hosts.
Home boss Aitchison said: “We’ve beaten Arbroath, they beat Dunfermline and Dunfermline beat us.
“I’ve said before that in our league, with the exception of Rangers, the teams will all beat everybody else.
“In the first half we had three clear chances.
“We’ll now go back to the drawing board ahead of Rangers next week.
“We said to the boys that if we got the win then there would be no pressure on them for next week.”
The Fifers netted first when Durie headed home a Craig Johnstone corner.
Johnstone then went close with a direct free-kick before he was brought down in the box by Hamilton.
The Arbroath defender saw a straight red and Buchanan stepped up to slot in the resulting penalty.
The visitors got back into the game on the stroke of half-time when Cook rifled home a free-kick from the edge of the box.
The game developed a bit of needle and Durie was the next to see red after picking up two bookings.
Returning Fifer Bobby Linn almost created a chance for Steven Milne to net an equaliser but his through ball was cut out.
Despite relentless Arbroath pressure towards the end of the game, the Methil men defended well and held on for their first win of the season.
Arbroath boss Sheerin said: “It’s going to be tight, you can see the league shaping up that way already with everybody having a win.
“Apart from Rangers everybody will beat everybody which is why it’s important we go back home and prepare for Brechin next week because it’s vital we win it because we’re at Ibrox after that and we need to keep with the pack.”