Not so long ago, Dunfermline were looking like a side with one eye on challenging for a play-off position.
Saturday’s humbling at the hands of Morton leaves them two places from the bottom and without a win in seven.
Two crunch matches are up next, both also at East End Park, as the Pars look to turn their season around.
There were also more injury issues for James McPake to contend with in a season of endless absences.
Courier Sport looks at the talking points from Saturday’s 5-0 defeat to Morton at East End Park.
Worst home defeat in 16 years
October 2007 was the last time Dunfermline suffered such a heavy defeat at East End Park.
That was when Stephen Kenny was in charge and it came against a James McCarthy and James McArthur-inspired Hamilton Accies who were league leaders at the time.
Since then there has been a 5-1 defeat at home to Inverness in the 2016 League Cup and 5-2 loss at East End Park to Queen of the South in 2017.
Saturday’s loss means Dunfermline have taken just three points from the last 21 available and they have one just once at home since they last hosted Morton.
Looking down, not up
McPake conceded post-match that Dunfermline are now wary of the teams behind them, rather than looking up the table.
That starts with two crunch matches versus Queen’s Park and Arbroath, the two teams below them in the table.
The silver lining is that, in this league things can turn very quickly – even a few wins can change the dynamics quite dramatically.
Morton manager Dougie Imrie started his post-match interview by empathising with McPake.
Not so long ago, his side were bottom of the Championship with a pile of injuries. Now they are flying up the league on a 12-match unbeaten run.
Another injury
Dunfermline were dealt a further blow when Sam Fisher was ruled out for six to eight weeks with a calf injury ahead of the game.
It’s not a time to be making excuses but the defence that managed a clean sheet against the league leaders the week before was already on the young side before its eldest member, at 22, dropped out with injury.
That doesn’t excuse a five-goal reserve but the constant defensive disruption is certainly a factor in where Dunfermline are right now.
Craig Wighton was also replaced in the first half after receiving treatment.
Difficult debuts
With no Fisher, Xavier Benjamin was given a baptism of fire in the centre of the back three for an hour before he was replaced.
He started alongside Cardiff City team-mate Malachi Fagan-Walcott, making his home debut after a fantastic performance in the 0-0 draw at Tannadice.
Both had difficult afternoons, but there were few if any who got pass marks for their performance.
Brad Holmes was the other player to make his Dunfermline debut but was sent on after the fourth goal.
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