I've learned in 6,000+ hours of flight time, most of it low level, and also from some salty dogs in the Caribbean flying DC-3's, Cherokee 6's and other assorted cats and dogs, that the key to surviving the loss of an engine at low altitude (unless you have a gazillion knots on), is to make no turns (or minimal turns). Convert airspeed to altitude, and cherish your liftees, which are ruined by turns. Obviously turn to make a runway, within reason.
During my 2.5 years as Air Ops in Roosy Roads, three civilian airplanes crashed in Puerto Rico because they tried to turn back to the field too early after losing an engine after takeoff or lost an engine enroute (<1000') and ran out of lift from making turns looking for a place to put down. In all three cases, it was determined that, had they simply maintained straight and level flight, they could have likely gotten a restart or flown safely into a controlled (crash) landing. As it was, all three crews died.