Scott Brown insists he sees ‘absolute determination’ in the Raith Rovers ranks to haul themselves out of their current downturn.
But he has warned they still have work to do to ensure their early-season promotion play-off goals do not come under threat.
The Stark’s Park outfit slumped to a fifth straight defeat with Friday night’s 1-0 loss to Airdrie in the SPFL Trust Trophy semi-final.
Ian Murray’s side were desperate for a pick-me-up ahead of their top-of-the-table clash with Dundee United a week on Friday.
But they could not recover from a sixth-minute Nikolay Todorov goal as boos greeted a fifth home game without a victory.
It is hoped a free weekend, thanks to the Scottish Cup fifth round ties, will give Raith the breathing space to find answers to a worrying collapse in form and results.
And skipper Brown is adamant there will be no stone left unturned in a bid to spark a revival.
Identifying defensive frailties as a clear issue, he said: “What I’m seeing is absolute determination to turn things around.
“Our training has actually been very good before the last couple of games but then we know it hasn’t been good enough in the games.
Cheap goals
“It’s just going that way for us just now and there’s loads of reasons why these things happen.
“We’re losing cheaper goals than we were at the start of the season, first and foremost.
“If we can cut that out then we know we’ve got the quality at the top end of the pitch.
“But we need to give these guys a chance, because there’s no point in having to score three or four goals to win a home game.
“It makes life really difficult when that’s the case.
“We just need to do everything we can to get ourselves out of this run.”
Despite their current woes, Brown maintains that everyone at Raith would have been content with their current position if offered it last summer.
A remarkable run of just one league defeat in the opening five months of the campaign helped raise expectations of challenging Championship favourites United for the title.
The Kirkcaldy men have won once from their last six league games, but also still know that victory against the Tangerines next Friday will cut the gap at the top to only one point.
Looking over their shoulders, however, Rovers are just seven points ahead of Partick Thistle in third and 12 ahead of Morton in fourth.
Bigger picture and play-offs goal
Brown added: “We’ve gone through a sticky run but as players we just need to look at what we did in the first half of the season.
“Looking at the bigger picture, we would definitely have taken where we are right now. Everyone would have signed up for that at the start of the season.
“But, after going on this run, we know we just need to keep working hard and making sure we train well every day and hopefully it turns for us on the pitch.
“We’ve lost three league games in a row but we’re only four points behind top spot.
“The main aim was always to be there or thereabouts within the play-offs. And that’s where we are.
“But, taking Dundee United out of it, we still need to make sure we win games and make the play-offs at the very minimum.
“You know what can happen in this league.
“The season before I was here, Raith were flying high towards the top of the league and then finished fifth.
“So, we need to make sure we keep going.”
