The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Stakes are high in Fife derby clash
Scott Banks has confessed Dunfermline are already kicking themselves over their failure to challenge leaders Hearts for the Championship title.
And he admits they now desperately need a victory in tonight’s Fife derby to avoid the possibility of more disappointment and regrets in the promotion play-off race.
The Pars looked the most likely to test Hearts for top spot when they beat them at East End Park in November.
But the Fifers have failed to win back-to-back games since then and Saturday night’s 3-2 defeat to Dundee – despite being two goals up after just five minutes – was their sixth loss in their last nine matches.
Banks, on loan from Crystal Palace, believes the dismal run now leaves question marks hanging over the prospects of even securing a play-off place.
Stevie Crawford’s side are fourth because of a better goal difference than Inverness and Queen of the South, and have two games in hand on both teams, starting with this evening’s trip to face rivals Raith Rovers.
Banks said: “Saturday night is one of those ones that hurts. You just can’t do that in this league.
“When you go two goals ahead, you just can’t throw the game away. From our perspective it is frustrating, but it is something we have to recover really quickly from.
“Tuesday night becomes a must-win for us now. It is a big game coming up, it becomes the biggest game of our season now.
“Hearts have had some interesting results in the last few weeks and we have all been saying if it wasn’t for the chances we let slip away, we could be right up there pushing them.
“Unfortunately, that is not the case.
“We are all fighting for the play-offs and we just have to beat Raith. It is a must-win, there is no hiding that.
“People know how much pressure we are under now and that is something we have to dig out and really perform on Tuesday night.”
Dunfermline produced two quick-fire goals in the second half to earn a 2-2 draw the last time they made the trip to Stark’s Park back in December.
The Pars then produced one of their best performances of the season to rout their rivals 4-1 at home in February.
Banks added: “That was a really good performance from the team, a comfortable win in the end.
“Obviously, if we can repeat that at Raith it would be a great result and one that we need massively.
“We hope the goals come like they did on Saturday night early on and we are able to be strong throughout and not have another 15 to 20-minute spell when we looked ropey.
“Hopefully that will get us the win.
“We need everyone firing on all cylinders and hopefully we can go and win promotion at the end of it. We need to focus on these games coming up and make sure we are in that spot.”