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Dunfermline v Ayr United: Pars boss targets play-off spots

Dunfermline v Ayr United: Pars boss targets play-off spots

Dunfermline boss John Potter has challenged his players to focus all their energy into propelling the East End Park side back into the play-offs in the coming weeks.

A 14-point gap to league leaders Morton probably means that any title ambitions the Pars had are now gone, but the manager insists that fourth spot is still very much a realistic goal for his team as they prepare to host Ayr United in yet another important League One clash this afternoon.

The 1-1 draw at in-form Brechin in midweek steadied the ship somewhat after a run of three straight defeats and, although Potter concedes that the title would be a momentous ask from here on in, clawing their way into the top four is now the primary target.

“I think there are too many teams up there at the top of the league, if I’m being honest, for us to catch them,” he said of his side’s title hopes.

“They are not all going to go on bad runs, but we’ve got to try and get into the play-offs and look at winning the next few games to give ourselves an opportunity.

“That’s where we’re at and that’s what I’m looking at.

“We need to win games we know that.

“It was a good start to the Brechin game and we got a good goal, and I think we played reasonably well first half.

“We probably needed to get that second goal to kill it off, but Brechin threw everything at us second half and we went a bit too deep and invited them on a wee bit.

“So we’re disappointed because we want to try and win games and we’re not going to settle for a draw.

“People might say it’s a good draw because of the run Brechin are on, but we need to win games and I’ve told that to the players.

“I was really disappointed towards the end that Ryan Scully was taking a wee bit of time to get the ball back and I told him he should have sprinted to get it because we need wins, from minute one to minute 95.

“Draws will not do us any good, so we’ve got to go out with a positive attitude in the next few games and try to win them.”

Eight points separate the Pars and fourth-placed Forfar, and Potter is eyeing maximum points today to try and make a dent in that deficit.

“Ayr have improved since we played them maybe a month ago, they’ve made signings and they are scoring a lot of goals, so it’ll be difficult,” he noted.

“We know that, but we’ve had them watched and we’ve done our homework on them.

“It’s just about us.

“We’ve got to have a positive frame of mind and try and win the game.”

Defender Gregor Buchanan will serve the second game of his suspension, while Ryan Wallace and Alex Whittle are both sidelined through injury.