Lee Robinson has urged Dunfermline to treat this afternoon’s clash with basement boys Brechin City as the biggest game of their lives as they chase their promotion dream.
The Pars know they will clinch a play-off place if they can win their three remaining fixtures.
They begin that quest with the visit of Brechin, who have not managed a win all season and are already relegated.
Robinson is eager to ensure the importance of the game is not lost on his team-mates as they bid to stay third in the table.
He said: “I keep saying that the next game is the biggest of my career, but they are such big games and every game’s bigger than the last one.
“You think if you win one you can relax, but you can’t, there’s even more pressure the next week to get the points.
“But, at the minute, it’s working and the lads are stepping up to it.
“Brechin are definitely not the worst team I’ve seen and it’s a banana skin. But everyone needs to keep on doing what they’ve been doing – we’ll all need to be at it.
“We’re seven unbeaten now and last weekend was great, a great atmosphere and a great result for us.
“You’d love it to be more comfortable, but if we have to win the last three then we just have to keep going.
“It might be better to have to do that and then we’ll go into the play-offs on a good run.”
Robinson has certainly played his part in Dunfermline’s revival in recent weeks and has kept an incredible nine clean sheets in 15 league games since arriving at the club in January.
It is a record he is proud of and one he believes could prove crucial if Allan Johnston’s men are to prevail in the play-offs they so desperately crave.
He added: “It could have been more but I’ve got to be happy with nine clean sheets in 15 league games. It’s been a really good run for not just me but the rest of the defence and the team as well.
“It’s great for the defence and myself but the whole team should get the credit.
“If you’re keeping clean sheets you only need to get one goal to win the game, so it’s massive.
“The whole team have been doing well and working really hard, and it bodes well if we can make it into the play-offs.”
Meanwhile, Brechin manager Darren Dods is hoping that his team will take points off promotion hopefuls in the next few days.
He said: “We’ve got Dunfermline next, Dundee United in midweek and Livingston the following weekend.
“That’s three tough games but there is pressure on our opponents.
“We can take some confidence from the performance against St Mirren. Heads didn’t go down after losing an early goal and in the end they were the team happy to see the game out.
“When we played Dunfermline in September they were top and looked like real candidates to win the league. They’ve got some strong attacking options and after a sticky spell are looking good for the play-offs again.
“We made it hard for them at East End Park the last time and hopefully we can do that again.”
Sean Crighton returns from suspension but Paul McLean is still banned and Gary Fusco is likely to miss the rest of the season through injury.
