Stranraer left it late to beat Dunfermline Athletic in the first leg of their Scottish Championship playoff this evening.

Stranraer started well and were in front after 13 minutes when top scorer Martin Grehan fired the ball beyond Ryan Scully.

Dunfermline might have trailed sooner, but for Scully being equal to Sean Winter's effort as the hosts looked to take advantage in the tie early on.

However, the Pars, who held champions Rangers to a 1-1 draw at the weekend, slowly began to settle into their task and enjoyed far more attacking play.

They were level moments before the interval when Fayssal El Bakhtaoui slotted his effort beyond David Mitchell in the Stranny goal.

After getting back on terms, Dunfermline continued to push and Ross Forbes almost gave the visitors the lead, but was denied by Mitchell.

However, the visitors were reduced to 10 men after Jonathan Page received a second yellow for unsporting behaviour.

From that moment, Stranraer looked the more likely to score and took the lead late on through Steven Bell.

The sides meet again in the return leg at East End Park on Saturday.