Dunfermline manager Jim McIntyre has admitted this is one of the toughest periods of his managerial career.
The Pars are stuck in a dismal rut with the latest hammer blow coming on Wednesday night when they were knocked out of the Scottish Cup in extra time by Inverness.
Dunfermline had taken the lead in the game but were pegged back following a calamitous mix-up when goalkeeper Chris Smith kicked an attempted clearance off Kevin Rutkiewicz with the ball breaking to Jonny Hayes for a simple tap-in.
The defeat was a double whammy as McIntyre’s men have now missed out on a lucrative home tie in the next round against Celtic a financial loss the East End Park boss has already admitted will have a knock-on effect in determining who he can bring in to reinforce his squad.
He said: ”It’s only human nature that the boys are a bit despondent after the cup defeat. The bottom line is we threw the game away. We dominated the first half and should have been two goals up but as soon as we made the mistake, you could see the difference in both sides.
”That’s how crucial it is to take your chances and Inverness dominated for 20 minutes after it went to 1-1 and had a real spring in their step.”
He added: ”It’s one of the toughest times in my career. I had a period in the first division where we hadn’t won for six games but this is up there. Only hard work will get us out of it and I’d be more worried if we weren’t creating chances and our play was terrible, but it’s not.
”They’re giving me everything they’ve got and there’s no lack of fighting spirit but goals knock the stuffing out of you.”
McIntyre says he is working tirelessly to put things right and he remains confident his side can go on a run to move off the bottom of the table and up the league.
He said: ”You scrutinise everything you do the teams you pick, the decisions you make. If you didn’t do that you’d be burying your head in the sand.”
He added: ”The positives are that our performances over the past three weeks have been better than when we were losing heavily and we’ve created chances but we do need to be more ruthless.
”There’s no doubt in my mind that we can go on a decent run but we need to do it soon as we’re past the halfway stage. January is a big month and it’s so important that we find a way back into it. And we’ve got a chance to do that, with upcoming games against Motherwell, Kilmarnock and Aberdeen. We need to take as many points as we can from them.”
Meanwhile, goalie Smith has declared he will recover from the latest setback to afflict him. Smith has been dogged by bad luck and committed a series of mistakes since he replaced the injured Paul Gallacher in goal.
But he insists he has the mental strength to bounce back strongly.
He said: ”At the Inverness equaliser, I just came out and shouted. I’m not sure if Kevin shouted as well but I went to clear it and it hit off him. It was just one of those things. I felt I was in control of the situation but the way our luck is going just now it has fallen into their path and they’ve scored.
”It is a hard one to take but sometimes football kicks you when you’re down. To be a footballer, you need to be mentally strong and I will just keep working hard in training. Hopefully, my luck will change soon.”