After conceding four at home to Rangers on Monday, Dunfermline are looking to bounce back at Stenhousemuir this afternoon.
Top spot looks well out of reach with Rangers 14 points clear, so Jefferies is looking for his players to cement second place against their promotion rivals.
“Our games the ones that we are most concerned about are against the teams outside Rangers,” he said.
“We have handled them well and we have two big games coming up against Stenhousemuir away and Stranraer at home.
“They are the ones that matter now and our young players will learn from the Rangers game.
“We contributed to some of the Rangers goals with sloppy mistakes, but they are young boys and I hope they can learn from it.”
He continued: “The criticism Rangers got after the Stranraer match was always going to fire them up and they showed us respect by playing well.
“But we had a couple of great opportunities in the first 20 minutes and there were a lot of positives for us to take out of it.”
A new year and a fresh start also brought with it good news for the Fife club in relation to the possibility of strengthening their squad, with the embargo on signing players over the age of 21 now lifted.
Jefferies has been working hard to identify potential targets and was hoping to bring new faces in when he spoke before the window opened.
“I know the club would like to strengthen a couple of positions, but at the same time I do not want them doing it knowing that they don’t have the resources to do it,” he said.
“You do not want to end up back in the same position as we were in a year ago. If we do add, your fear is that you upset your philosophy of youth.
“We don’t want to go down the other path again.”
Ryan Williamson and Josh Falkingham are both doubtful after requiring hospital visits to check ankle and hand injuries, respectively, on Monday night.
Defender Callum Morris missed the Rangersgame due to his achilles injury, and he was due to be assessed.
Meanwhile, the Pars say they will appeal the SFA’s decision to downgrade the club’s youth programme from three stars to two.
The implications are that annual funding would be cut from £65,000 to £30,000, while on the playing side Dunfermline youth sides would no longer play their counterparts from the top clubs.