Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Dave Mackay eyeing Scottish Cup win over Raith as ‘turning point’ for Dunfermline

The Pars assistant boss said the last two matches have shown 'you don't always get what you deserve'.

Dave Mackay and James McPake are preparing Dunfermline for another Fife derby. Image: Craig Brown/DAFC.
Dave Mackay and James McPake are preparing Dunfermline for another Fife derby. Image: Craig Brown/DAFC.

Dunfermline assistant Dave Mackay, like manager James McPake, has been encouraged by the Pars’ recent performances.

A point at home to Inverness last week wasn’t ideal but was accepted by the management team under the circumstances.

The week before, Dunfermline were in the ascendancy in the second half at home to Dundee United with the scores level before Chris Mochrie’s late winner.

This weekend brings another match at East End Park and a chance to improve the home form that Mackay accepts hasn’t been good enough so far this season before Queen’s Park come to town in the Championship.

Friday will be the fourth Fife derby of the season already and this Scottish Cup third-round tie means they will have faced each other in three different competitions.

Dave Mackay: It’s all about Dunfermline getting through

“We’ve got a run of loads of home games now,” said Mackay. “Our home form hasn’t been great, in terms of picking up points, etcetera, so hopefully this can be a wee bit of a turning point for us.

It was a good performance on Saturday, although we only came away with one point.

“But the important thing in cup competitions is to try to get through to the next round.

Dunfermline assistant Dave Mackay with manager James McPake. Image: Craig Brown/DAFC.

“If we maintain the sort of performance we’ve had in the last couple of games it gives us a great chance

“But, as we’ve seen in the last two games, you don’t always get what you deserve.

“So, in the cup competitions, it’s about getting through to the next round and whatever way we do that we’ll take that.”

The former St Johnstone and Dundee defender knows this competition well, having held the Scottish Cup aloft as Saints captain back in 2014.

He says doing what is required to be in the hat for the next round can often mean fortune falling in your favour.

Cup specialist

“You need a bit of luck and other teams to go out of the competition or you catch them on a bad day,” said Mackay.

“But you’re only six games away from winning a trophy and five from getting to Hampden.

“And you can get the luck of the draw as teams did last year. Falkirk got to the semi-final without playing anybody, really, of any stature.

Dave Mackay holds the Scottish Cup trophy after captaining St Johnstone to glory in 2014.

“Darvel knocked out Aberdeen and then Falkirk got Darvel.

“Sometimes you just find yourself getting a little bit of a fortunate draw, although you’ve still got to go and win those games.

“As players and staff you want to have a good run, especially in the Scottish Cup with the prestige it holds.

“It’s been shown in the past 10, 15 years, not with the number of teams who have won it but with the amount from the lower leagues who have got to a final.

“It can happen and hopefully we can be one of those teams.”

Meanwhile, Ben Summers is 50-50 to be involved against Raith and otherwise it is the same squad that was available for Inverness. Kyle Benedictus and Rhys Breen “still weeks away”, according to Mackay.

Conversation