Dunfermline captain Austin McCann has revealed that manager Jim McIntyre helped get their first division promotion bid back on track by pulling no punches in a team meeting last week.
The East End Park club had lurched from a home defeat to a home draw in the space of four days and, in doing so, had fallen five points behind leaders Raith Rovers.
Their form in 2011 has not been that of champions and McIntyre did not try to disguise that at a get-together ahead of Saturday’s crunch clash with Falkirk.
McCann believes the talking-to helped inspire the win, which may prove to be a turning point.
The left-back said, “We sat down at the training ground on Friday and just to make sure none of us were in any doubt about how we’ve been doing since the turn of the year the gaffer put our results up on the wall.
“When you looked at them you thought, ‘How are we still in this title race?’
“It maybe planted a seed in the boys’ heads and contributed to Saturday’s result.”
He added, “Our previous two matches had been very disappointing and, to be honest, confidence was really low.
“To go to Falkirk and win shows that we’ve got character and spirit in abundance.
“That’s what we’re going to need if we’re going to go on the run of results that will hopefully win us the league.”
With their slip-ups against Morton and Ross County fresh in the mind, McCann insisted that there will be no danger of bottom club Stirling Albion being taken for granted tonight, or at the weekend.
He said, “The results have been crazy all season so we won’t be getting ahead of ourselves. “We’ve got Stirling back to back and people will be saying, ‘That’s six points to Dunfermline’.
“But they’re much improved since Jocky Scott took over and they’ll be scrapping for their lives.”
He added, “It will be a tough couple of games but if we show the right attitude hopefully we’ll get two wins.”
If results hadn’t gone their way at the weekend, the Pars could have been eight points off the pace.
McCann admitted they have been buoyed by trimming Raith’s lead to two.
The former Hearts man said, “Raith were at home and we were away at Falkirk, which is as tough as it comes in this league.
“So for it to turn out like it did made it a very good weekend for us.”
He added, “Nobody at the top has shown any consistency for a while now and it’s keeping all three of us (Dunfermline, Raith and Falkirk) in it.
“Nobody’s put a run together and the team that does will be in pole position.
“That’s what we’re looking to do now, and it will be more about character than football.”
Andy Dowie is still ruled out but could return to training later this week.
McIntyre reported that fellow centre-back Kevin Rutkiewicz is “struggling” with a swollen ankle.
He said, “I’m like a broken record just now, but there will be a lot more twists and turns to come in this league and we just have to focus on our next match against Stirling.
“We’ve got 10 huge games left and we’ll be taking them one at a time.
“After taking just one point from two home games the boys showed great character on Saturday. It was a really big game for us.
“But it’s only one result and we want to build on it.”
Scott said, “We have to approach every game now as if it was a cup final.
“The important thing is how we go about the game and compete against Dunfermline.”
He added, “Everybody can beat everybody on their day, there are no foregone conclusions and no-one can take anything for granted.
“It’s down to what happens on the night.”