Three points and moving up into fourth in the Championship is what Dunfermline should use as an “incentive”, according to midfielder Paul Allan.
A win on Friday night over Morton would lift the Pars up four places in the Championship.
They currently sit in eighth, though with two games in hand over most in the division.
Friday night football gives them the chance to improve that position before the rest of the league completes the fixture card the following day.
Allan, who recently returned to the squad after a hamstring problem and a knock to his knee, said Dunfermline are ready to take that opportunity.
“That should be an incentive for the boys,” said the 23-year-old. “For people who look at the table from the outside, sitting eighth at the moment doesn’t look ideal.
“If we can win on Friday and get ourselves up to fourth before the games on Saturday it looks a lot better.
“We need to play well again, take our chances and the three points come Friday.”
Paul Allan: We’re still creating chances
No goals in the last three is a cause for concern but encouragement can be taken from an improved performance in the Fife derby.
Dunfermline created the better of the chances last weekend before Sam Stanton’s late winner.
“It would be worrying not scoring goals if we weren’t creating goalscoring chances but especially Saturday we had a lot of good opportunities, we just couldn’t take the chance,” said Allan.
“We just need to sharpen up a bit and hopefully one of them will fall for us and then kick on from there.”
“The position that we are in now doesn’t look great but with a couple of games in hand, if we can get a wee run going and pick up one or two wins which in this league can jump you up the table hugely.
“That’s what will be looking to start on Friday.”
Morton ‘will be up for the fight’
Dunfermline put in arguably their best performance of the season the last time they faced Morton, who currently sit bottom of the Championship on goal difference.
A different proposition awaits at Cappielow, however.
“From previous experiences, we’ve had a tough few visits through there,” said Allan.
“They are always a direct team who will be up for the fight. We need to match that and hopefully we can show quality to get the win.
“That was one of our better performances earlier in the season and we managed to get the result to go along with it.
“The boys were really good that day and we managed to score some goals. We want to do the same again and get a similar result.”
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