Arbroath took a huge stride towards booking an immediate return to the William Hill Championship as Aaron Muirhead’s early strike proved enough to see off closest rivals Cove Rangers at Gayfield.

Muirhead’s eighth-minute effort extended the leaders’ advantage to eight points and to make matters worse for the second-placed visitors, they had striker Mitch Megginson sent off two minutes into injury time.

Third-placed Stenhousemuir failed to keep up the pressure as a nightmare first half saw them sink to a 3-2 home defeat at home to struggling Montrose.

Two from Callum Sandilands and an effort from Owen Stirton put the visitors three up at the break and despite late efforts from Blair Alston and Matthew Aitken, the hosts failed to haul back the deficit.

Mark Durnan’s injury-time effort earned already-relegated Dumbarton their first win since December in a dramatic finish against Alloa at the Indodrill Stadium.

The visitors looked to have been denied again when Conor Sammon levelled for Alloa with just four minutes remaining – only for Durnan to pounce at the death to seal a surprise 3-2 win.

Annan Athletic gave their survival hopes a timely boost as a late Luca Ross goal earned a 2-1 comeback win over Kelty Hearts, while Inverness – with whom they are fighting to avoid the relegation play-off slot – were thrashed 4-1 at Queen of the South.

East Fife staged a spectacular comeback to beat The Spartans 4-2 and get their League Two promotion hopes back on track.

The hosts looked to be heading for their fourth loss out of five when goals from Jamie Dishington and Blair Henderson gave Spartans a 2-0 interval lead.

But Alan Trouten and Michael McKenna pulled the hosts level before a brace in the last six minutes from Nathan Austin pulled East Fife to within one point of leaders Peterhead.

The leaders had to battle with 10 men for 80 minutes of their goalless draw at struggling Forfar, after Kieran Shanks was sent off early for two yellow cards.

Bonnyrigg Rose remain rooted to the bottom of the table after Dajon Golding earned a 1-0 win for visitors Elgin.

A late Ryan Shanley header saw Stirling nudge a 2-1 win over Edinburgh City after James Graham’s opener was cancelled out by James Stokes’ equaliser

Two late goals from Martin Rennie gave Clyde a 2-1 comeback victory away to Stranraer, who had Mark Russell sent off late on for two bookable offences.