Barry Robson has challenged Raith Rovers to find the consistency necessary to push for a promotion play-off place.
The Stark’s Park side host Hamilton Accies now just six points adrift of Partick Thistle in fourth spot.
With two games in hand on the Jags, there is a sense that something tangible can be salvaged from a difficult season.
Robson, the club’s third manager of the campaign after Ian Murray and Neill Collins, is confident his side are on an upwards trajectory.
But he has urged his squad to ensure they turn performances into results in the coming weeks and months.
“I think it was a really good performance last week,” he said of the 3-0 victory over Thistle. “But, as I said to them, we need to get consistency.
“I think we’ve got consistency in performance, but the results are where we’ve not had the consistency.
“So that’s the message that was clear to the players.
‘Maximum levels’
“Some of the games, we’ve been really good – even in games we’ve lost we’ve been good. They know that, and that we just have to perform to our maximum levels to win.
“It’s just this league, you’ve got to perform at maximum levels, or you will lose games.”
Since a troubled debut match in charge in the 3-0 defeat to Ayr United, Robson has seen his team win three and lose three.
One of those defeats was a difficult 5-0 reverse against Celtic in the Scottish Cup.
A tough afternoon it might have been, but he is convinced it was a worthwhile eye-opener for the Rovers players.
“At the higher level, you’ve got to be mentally switched on,” Robson added to Courier Sport. “You should come off the pitch really tired, mentally and physically, because good players will keep you guessing, they’ll move the ball quickly.
“When the ball goes out of play, the ball comes in quicker, they take quite free kicks, they’ll test your organisation all the time. Tactically, they do it all.
“So you come off physically and mentally drained, and you find that at the higher levels you go.
“The players will have realised that, and I thought we were really good at most of that stuff last weekend.
‘A good reaction’
“So it could have been a knock-on effect. It was a good reaction after that game.”
Raith travel to face Airdrie on Tuesday night and then host Queen’s Park next Saturday in a crucial spell.
The positive news is that midfielder Shaun Byrne looks ready for a return after six weeks out with ankle ligament damage.
And, although Lewis Gibson is a doubt with a knee problem, Lewis Vaughan has shaken off his minor setback to close in on a welcome comeback following hamstring surgery.
Conversation