Dunfermline goalkeeper Ryan Scully admits he is hoping clear-the-air talks will ensure that the Pars avoid “squeaky bum time” on the final weekend of the season.
A winless run of five defeats from six matches has dragged Stevie Crawford’s side into an incredible six-club relegation dogfight in the Championship with two games remaining.
The Fifers are only three points clear of ninth-placed Alloa in the play-off spot but they can effectively seal their safety with victory over fellow strugglers Morton this afternoon.
A dressing-room summit was held in the wake of last weekend’s disappointing 2-1 setback at Queen of the South and former Ton shot-stopper Scully reckons the fans will see a reaction today.
Scully said: “Overall, the performance against Queens was not acceptable.
“We’ve only picked up one point from the last six games but you can probably look at the Falkirk game and say we should have won that had we taken our chances.
“We were unlucky against Ross County but in terms of last Saturday everything was just wrong.
“We fell well below the standards we set in terms of workrate, desire to get into 50/50 tackles. Everything was just nowhere near good enough.
“We got well told after the game and we had a meeting on Monday to clear the air and say that it isn’t acceptable.
“Hard work was the basis for those five wins in a row we had and we fell well short on Saturday.
“We don’t want to get dragged into this – it’s squeaky bum time in the last two games.
“We know what we need to do now. We know we need to go out there and win – it’s as simple as that.
“We need to dust ourselves down and give the crowd something to cheer about as well.”
A five-game winning run had briefly given Dunfermline, who wrap up at the campaign at Inverness next Saturday, hope of finishing in the promotion play-offs.
However, Scully admits a fifth-placed finish would now be considered as acceptable.
He added: “The results have been bad in the last six games but we’re still in pole position to finish fifth and it’s in our hands.
“If someone would have said at the turn of the year that you had two games to finish fifth I think you would take it.
“We know Morton had a good result last weekend so they will be up for it. If we can get the workrate back to where it was we’ll be confident of getting the three points.”
Manager Crawford has demanded his team get back to basics and roll their sleeves up and Scully insists they will be punished if they do anything less.
He added: “In this league if you don’t show up you’ll get points taken off, that’s the way this league is.
“Hopefully we can finish the season on a high now.”
