Dunfermline boss Jim Jefferies believes the only way his players can compensate for their disappointing Scottish Cup exit is to go on and gain promotion to the Championship.
The Pars had high hopes of earning a money-spinning fifth round tie at home to Dundee United by beating Stranraer on Tuesday night, but it was not to be as the visitors ran out 3-1 winners at East End Park.
That means that Jefferies and his men must console themselves with the fact that they are still challenging near the top of League One, and the Pars manager left his players in no doubt of their main goal now.
“The only way we can make up for being out of the cup is by winning this league that’s always been the priority and that’s what we need to focus on and do now,” he commented.
“We’ve got to pick ourselves up and start to get on a run in the league.
“In cup ties you are either through or you are not, and we’re out.
“We thought we were favourites going on the first game against Stranraer but we had to perform better on the night.
“But our priority is the league.
“We’ve got Stranraer back at East End Park a week on Saturday so we’ve got to win that.”
Jefferies kept his players in the home dressing room for some time after the final whistle on Tuesday night and was understandably disappointed with the manner of his side’s defeat.
“After a decent start I felt we sat off them a wee bit and allowed them to get some possession,” he added.
“They turned that possession into a really good goal which set us back, although I thought we started the second half really well.
“I got in about them at half-time and told them to up their game and show a bit more desire to win a cup tie and they did that.
“But the second goal was just a joke really it was a terrible defensive goal.
“The header was misplaced and before Alex Whittle could get there there’s a cross into the box and you are looking at your two centre halves but the Stranraer player’s got nobody near him.
“So it was an easy goal from their point of view and it was always going to be difficult.
“Getting a goal back, you start to think it might be a reverse of the game down there and we could bring it back to 2-2.
“We showed a lot of effort, we huffed and puffed a wee bit, and in that spell we had two or three chances with headers over the bar but you’ve got to take these chances.
“As the game wore on, we throw people forward to try and get an equaliser but they caught us at the end.”