Yesterday was all about a royal wedding, but today it could be a Dunfermline coronation.
Victory against Morton in Greenock this afternoon will see the Pars crowned first division champions.
Defender Kevin Rutkiewicz knows the type of celebrations that will be in store for them if they can do what’s required at Cappielow, having skippered St Johnstone to the title just two seasons ago, ironically by beating today’s opponents.
If he’s asked for advice by East End Park team-mates who haven’t won a promotion before, however, the message will be a simple one: nothing’s been won yet.
The centre-back, who returns from suspension, pointed out, “You don’t get to enjoy yourself until it’s over.
“Before we start patting each other on the back, we need to finish the job off.
“The 90 minutes isn’t enjoyable at all. Running yourself into the ground, taking knocks and putting your head in where it hurts isn’t about fun.
“The enjoyment comes at quarter to five when you’ve got three points in the bag.
“In the case of Saturday, it would be three points and a championship. That’s the incentive.
“This is a title game and it doesn’t get much bigger than that. It’s massive for everybodyfor the club, the manager and the players.
“Everybody has their own motivation, whether it’s to play in the SPL, earn yourself a bigger move or help improve your standard of living.
“I think the manager’s team talk will be easy for this one.”
Rutkiewicz knows that Morton won’t be in the mood to roll over, but their desire to deny Dunfermline will pale into insignificance compared to Falkirk’s on the last day of the season, should they slip up today.
That should give the Pars extra motivation, he insisted.
“Morton will want to be the party poopers and if it came down to the last game Falkirk certainly would,” he said. “So we want to avoid giving them a chance.
“There’s no other team in Scotland that would rather come here and stop us winning the title. At the start of the season if Dunfermline had been told you’ve to go to Cappielow to win the league, you’d have taken that every time.
“I know Allan Moore well and I know his teams. He’ll not want a party on his pitch and he’s got Morton on an upward curve.
“He’ll want to put out a message that next season could be their chance. He’ll want to use us as a benchmark of how they can do in the future.
“We might not put in as good a performance as we did against Raith. It will be more about bottle.”Proved doubters wrongThe pain of being banned for last weekend’s Fife derby was acute, Rutkiewicz admitted, but it will be long gone if all goes to plan this afternoon.
He said, “My head was down before the Raith game because I knew what I was missing out on.
“I’ve been in the game long enough to know it wasn’t just another fixture. It was a massive game.
“It was a difficult one to watch in terms of not being involved, but from minute one to the end of the game at no point did I feel nervy.
“I thought we completely dominated it and were in total control. Even at 1-0 down I felt we would go on to win.
“They’re a physical and well organised side and have some good players but we imposed our game on them.
“We’ve had a lot of big games lately and that was another title-winning performance.
“It’s shown people we’ve got the bottle. We’ve come from behind in the league when a lot of people had written us off and we’ve maybe proved a few doubters wrong.
“Early on in the season you get caught up in the bigger picture but with it being so tight towards the end you’re not able to focus on anything other than the next game coming up.
“To a man, I don’t think there’s been a failure in our last six or seven games. There have been some horrible games but we’ve managed to grind out good results.”
Rutkiewicz has only been at Dunfermline for four months but he knows he made the right choice after being released by Saints.
He said, “I had options from other first division clubs. I took my time to weigh them up but I looked at the squad here and I got a gut feeling that this would be the best place to come.
“It’s not over yet but hopefully my decision to come here has been vindicated. I’ve loved being involved in the pressure of a run-in.
“We’ve got so many game winners in the team and everybody here has chipped in. It’s been a real squad effort.”
Manager Jim McIntyre should have everybody except Steven Bell available.
Morton manager Allan Moore is determined that his men deny the Pars the title.
“No doubt Dunfermline will bring a huge support with them and be looking to make it a gala day but I want Morton to finish fourth in the table so we need the points as well.”
Moore has ruled out strikers Kevin Kelbie and Sean Fitzharris for the visit of the potential champions.