Gary Naysmith says there’s no chance of him quitting East Fife, but admits a decision on his future could be out of his hands.
The Fifers were hammered 5-1 by an Arbroath title-chasing juggernaut at Bayview and consigned Naysmith’s men to their third League 2 defeat on the trot.
Naysmith says he’s determined to be the man to reverse that form.
He said: “I’m hurting and I know the fans are hurting because I can hear every shout coming from the stand. I know what they think, but I’m not walking away. But if the board decide something else then that’s their decision.
“Things are going against us the now but when they’re going against you you can dig that little bit deeper. We need to find it within ourselves.”
Arbroath opened the scoring when Simon Murray got the wrong side of Scott Smith before bursting in on goal, rounding Allan Fleming and netting.
But East Fife were soon level when Craig Johnstone was judged to have tripped Caolan McAleer inside the box.
Whether it was a penalty or not was debatable, but Jon McShane wasn’t concerned as he rattled home the spot-kick.
The game changed when East Fife were reduced to 10 men at the start of the second half when Ross Campbell saw red for a lunging challenge on Adam Hunter.
The Lichties made their man advantage count almost straight away and went ahead again when Paul McManus netted from a Jordan Lowdon cross.
Murray scored his second from six yards to extend Arbroath’s lead and then completed his hat-trick when he beat Fleming.
Sub Jack Smith completed the misery for East Fife by netting a fifth when he raced in on Fleming’s goal to make no mistake.
Arbroath boss Allan Moore heaped praise on his side.
He said: “It was even until the sending off which changed the game. When we had the extra man I thought we played exceptionally well.
“We’ve scored a lot of goals.
“Simon Murray has come into this league and is relishing it. When he gets in on goal he’s a terrific finisher.
“Paul McManus’s goal has killed the game and from there we kept the ball very well.”