John Hughes insists he has no intention of sheltering his Dunfermline squad from the magnitude of Saturday’s clash with Ayr United.
The Pars know that victory by two goals will take them above their visitors and into eighth place in the Championship table with just two games left.
With the team finishing second-bottom facing a treacherous play-off against the best of League One, a scenario Hughes knows only too well from relegation with Raith Rovers in 2017, it could be a pivotal moment in the Fifers’ battle to beat the drop.
If Queen of the South were to lose away to Arbroath, a win for Dunfermline would also put them a massive nine points clear of the basement side, who would then have three games remaining.
Hughes is big on focusing on buzz words such as ‘process’ and ‘performance’ and not being distracted by the bigger picture.
But he has confessed there is no shying away from the importance of this weekend’s fixture.
He said: “I don’t mind us talking about where we are, in terms of relegation.
“Everybody’s played a part in it, no matter if you’ve just come in at Christmas or from the start of the season, or myself. We’ve all had a part to play.
“I want to embrace it, I don’t want to hide it under the carpet.
“Big players embrace that and go and do something about it. That’s the mindset I’m looking for the guys to have.
‘Embrace it’
“What will be will be. There’s no point in being scared of it, go and embrace it, it’s a game of football.”
Intriguingly, should Dunfermline win 1-0 on Saturday, they will be level with Ayr on points, goal difference, goals scored and goals against.
It is an indication of how small the margins are and, also, a warning that there is little room for error as the matches are ticked off one by one.
For a team that was expected last summer to be pushing for promotion, the consequences of failure in the coming days are significant.
However, Hughes is determined to bring out the best in his players in the knowledge that will hopefully be enough to haul them clear of danger when it matters most.
He added: “We understand. It’s nothing different from the derby match, in terms of us embracing what’s at stake.
“We’ve got three games to go and we need to make sure we’re competitive and at our best in the three games remaining, starting on Saturday.
“We owe it to each other come Saturday to be together and try our best to put that performance on.”
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