Mcmanus relives pain of play-off to give him motivation he needs

Declan Mcmanus has revealed the pain of Dunfermline’s play-off defeat to Dundee United in 2018 is fuelling his personal promotion push this season.

After a goalless firstleg, Mcmanus scored first at Tannadice only for United to roar back and win 2-1 on aggregate.

Ultimately, it was Livingston who sealed a return to the top flight after beating both the Tangerines and then Partick Thistle in the final.

But Mcmanus is convinced Dunfermline could have gone all the way to the Premiership had they not let that lead slip against United.

The Pars have it all to do in the coming weeks after Inverness Caley Thistle’s 4-1 victory over Morton on Tuesday night – a sixth straight win – lifted them above the Fifers into fourth spot.

But Mcmanus is hoping they can hit their stride at just the right time after recovering from a Fife derby drubbing to pick up a valuable point against Hearts at the weekend.

He said: “For me, at Dunfermline, it is more about the pain of the last play-offs.

“I felt in the two games against Dundee United that we were by far the better team. Probably we should have got through that tie.

“It would have been a tough game against Livingston and then obviously Partick Thistle, but we all felt at the time if we could have got past United we could have gone all the way. It was a tough one to take.

“It is important to take it at least one step further this time.

“We went 10 games unbeaten just before the play-offs. We weren’t in as good a position as we are in now; those 10 games took us into the play-offs.

“We have a tough five games left and it was a good performance on Saturday when we needed it.”

Mcmanus turned in a man-of-the-match display against Hearts after being left out of the starting line-up for the previous four league outings.

The 26-year-old is frustrated to have netted just eight times for Dunfermline this season but insists he is content to play more of a supporting role as long as the Pars achieve their goals.

Ahead of Saturday’s trip to face Ayr United, he added: “It is something that I feel is sometimes gets forgotten about me, the fact that I do a lot outwith scoring the goals. That is a big part of what I like to bring to the team.

“Sometimes my consistency with goals gets scrutinised but some people do not look at the other stuff that I am doing.

“When you are playing as an out-and-out striker, I would totally agree that you need to score goals consistently.

“But I have always been happy to do the other bits, filling in other roles in other positions and doing them to the best of my ability.”

Mcmanus, centre, is hitting his stride for Dunfermline.