This was a game in which both sides enjoyed periods of ascendancy but from which neither deserved to take full points.
East Fife had the edge during the opening 25 minutes and were rewarded with an early breakthrough. Shire midfielder Joseph Robertson made a hash of an attempted back-pass to one of his centre-backs and Steven Nicholas took full advantage. The Fifers frontman intercepted the ball and ran on to the edge of the area before shooting past Tony Mitchell.
Shire gradually fought their way back into contention and grabbed a deserved equaliser after 34 minutes. Scott Livingston was crudely upended on the touchline by Michael Renwick to end a promising run. Robertson then made up for his earlier blunder by delivering an accurate free-kick on to the head of Steve Oates, who guided the ball well away from Scott Morrison's reach.
Morrison did well to tip over a clever overhead kick from Shire's Jamie Dunbar to keep the scores level at the break.
The second half was mostly forgettable, with both sides having chances to score but failing to do so because of poor finishing.