The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Pars need to halt slide to stick with the pack
Dunfermline: Keeper stresses need for points to stay in hunt for promotion
Sean Murdoch admits Dunfermline desperately need to starting picking up points if they are to cling to their hope of promotion to the Premiership.
The Pars, who topped the Championship earlier in the season, have slipped to fifth after a run of seven league matches without a win.
Saturday’s 1-0 loss to St Mirren was their third defeat in a row and they are now just five points above Dumbarton in eighth spot.
After a miserable 5-2 reverse at home to Queen of the South, Murdoch at least saw positives at the weekend, when referee Craig Charleston’s decision to reverse a penalty award robbed the Fifers of the chance to net a second-half equaliser.
But Murdoch knows that, after finding themselves 12 points adrift of league leaders St Mirren, they have to get points on the board fast if they are to meet their goal of pushing for a return to the topflight.
The keeper said: “At the end of the day, it is another defeat and we need points.
“On paper it is a defeat but the firsthalf was probably even-stevens. I thought we played pretty well and in the second half we were the better team.
“We can’t let the pack run away from us. We do not want to be cut adrift from the pack because our objective is promotion.
“If we have to do it through the playoffs then so be it, but we need to be in that pack. The only way to do that is to start picking up points, but if we keep playing like (Saturday) then the points will come.”
Murdoch was involved in a moment of controversy on Saturday when he was only yellow-carded for bringing down former team-mate Gavin Reilly as the Buddies striker raced through on goal.
But, with the home fans calling for a red card, the former Hibs and Hamilton Accies custodian insists it should not even have been a foul.
He added: “There was no contact. I am friends with Gavin from last season and he said that there was no contact as well.
“If he (the referee) gave the free-kick, I am guessing that he probably should have sent me off because it was denying a goal-scoring opportunity. But there was no contact.”