East Fife’s new manager John Robertson takes his side to bottom club Dumbarton this afternoon for his first match in charge.
While victory isn’t a must for Robertson at this stage of the season, the former Hearts and Scotland striker acknowledges how crucial three points could be not only for his side’s league position, but for their confidence in general.
The Fifers have fallen to third-bottom of the table after home defeats to Brechin and Forfar, and currently sit just five points clear of Dumbarton, who certainly haven’t had their problems to seek.
While East Fife acted quickly this week to replace Stevie Crawford, the managerless Sons will have newly-appointed Alan Adamson in charge today after Jim Chapman’s midweek resignation as first team boss.
However, Robertson can’t wait to get right back in the thick of things.
“It’s a vital match on Saturday because we could create a big gap between ourselves and Dumbarton and nudge ourselves a wee bit closer to the top half of the table,” he said.
“We haven’t had much preparation time and there’s been no time to go over anything hard and fast, but I don’t want to be overloading the players with information anyway.
“I just want them to go out and play football and express themselves like they can, get a smile back on their face.
“My challenge to the players is to show me what end of the league they want to be playing at.”
Defender John Ovenstone is expected to be fit after shaking off a head knock and Stewart Murdoch should also be available after a neck problem.
Adamson will be without speedy front-man Derek Carcary.