Dunfermline skipper Josh Falkingham reckons the Pars will be in the best shape possible by the time the promotion play-offs come around.
Jim Jefferies’ men look set to seal their spot in the top four over the next few weeks and could effectively be home and hosed this weekend if results go their way.
In reality though, the Fife club’s focus has been on securing second spot for some time now and giving themselves the best chance of success against the team finishing third in the two-legged play-off semi-final.
Falkingham believes the club’s off-the-field problems eventually took their toll on the pitch last term as they slipped into League One, but the 23-year-old says the Pars have learned from their experience.
“What you need is a freshness and momentum,” he said.
“Momentum is key and if your momentum is high right now, sometimes that can be a bad thing.
“You want to be on an upward trend and hitting your stride at the right time, going into the play-offs, because sometimes that can get you through games.
“You don’t want to be peaking too early and be on the downward trend, because if you get caught that can affect you massively.
“The good thing about this year is that if we can wrap up second place and wrap up a place in the play-offs as soon as possible it allows us to get that freshness I talked about.
“The gaffer can use his squad and really mix it up and go into the games fresh.”
Falkingham admits the play-off final defeat to Alloa last season hit everyone at East End Park hard, but the midfielder maintains securing second place sooner rather than later will give them a psychological advantage this time around.
“It will be important to go into the games with a mental freshness as well, because that’s what killed us last year,” he noted.
“It wasn’t a case of physically, although we were probably a bit tired last year because we had no boys.
“Callum Morris, Andy Geggan, Ryan Wallace we had massive injuries at that time, but nowadays we feel we’ve got a good enough squad to mix it up and mentally go into the play-off games fresh.
“That makes it vitally important to get the second place wrapped up as soon as possible.”