Under-pressure boss James McPake has defiantly insisted Dunfermline will NOT get relegated this season after they plunged to second bottom in the Championship.
And the Pars manager, who is confident he retains the support of the club’s board. has revealed he has two new signings in his sights in a bid to help turn around fortunes at East End Park.
The injury-ravaged Pars slumped to an eighth game without victory as they were swept aside 3-0 by Queen’s Park.
Second-half goals from Jack Turner, Dom Thomas and MacKenzie Carse did the damage.
A week after a 5-0 thrashing at home to Morton, the home fans reacted with a cacophony of boos at the full-time whistle.
McPake has acknowledged the seriousness of his side’s current predicament and accepted they are now firmly locked in a grim relegation battle.
But he is adamant it is a fight they will win.
He said: “For us, and I’m not trying to be smart, we will get this right here.
“We’re in a bad, bad position at the minute. But I’ll go on record – and it’s in no way trying to be the big man or anything – we’ll not get relegated from this league.
Relegation battle
“We’re in a relegation battle for the rest of the season. We can forget play-offs, we can forget everything.
“We need to concentrate on winning a game.
“But, with the confidence I’ve got in that group and what we’re trying to do, and the staff around it, we’ll not get relegated from this league.”
Asked if he retained the support of the club’s board, he stated: “Absolutely.”
The anger of sections of the Dunfermline support was clear at the full-time whistle for the second week in a row as the fans made their feelings clear.
McPake added: “It’s great for us when we were winning games and we were walking off and the fans were cheering our names.
“That [booing] comes with the job.
“We can’t let it affect them. They’re hurting, of course they are, we’re all hurting.
“But we need to move on to next week. We need to quickly move on, find a win, find a way to win.
Setbacks
“We were in that game and then had one setback. We need to find a way to deal with setbacks.
“That might be with the help of some experience, it might just be a change of something else.
“But it needs to turn and it will turn.”
Meanwhile, McPake has revealed he was close to adding one player ahead of the game and is eyeing another to give his squad a lift ahead of the visit of Arbroath next Saturday.
He went on: “Hopefully in the next week… regardless of today, we’re in the process of trying to add a couple of experienced bodies. Hopefully that galvanises that group.
“We almost had someone in this morning. We were hoping to have someone in, which wouldn’t have helped today.
“But we’re working very hard on it.
“We’ve spoken about this loan window and when the Premiership teams decide they can let players go.
“We’re working hard on it.”
