Crawford puts horror show behind Pars in focusing on play-offs

Stevie Crawford fears his managerial CV will forever be scarred by last week’s Fife derby demolition.

But the Dunfermline boss is confident Saturday’s stalemate against Hearts has proven his side have what it takes to put the hammering behind them.

Crawford held up his hands and told his players he got his tactics wrong for the 5-1 thrashing against rivals Raith Rovers last Tuesday.

They meekly succumbed to the club’s biggest defeat to their neighbours since 1983 to drop out of the promotion play-off places.

However, the East End Park manager was thrilled to see his team recover from the mauling with a goalless draw at the weekend to move back into fourth with five games remaining.

He said: “I said to the boys that, tactically, I got that (Raith Rovers match) wrong. I am man enough to say it.

“I am responsible for putting the team on the park and Raith Rovers were very good on the night.

“But that is the Raith Rovers one away. It will be on my CV for the rest of my management career and it will always hurt.

“But I am a believer in this group. Our objective was to get into the play-offs and we have got ourselves back in there.”

Crawford has pieced together a youthful team this season that have been afflicted by inconsistency of late.

After kicking off the campaign with nine victories and a draw from their opening 10 matches, the Pars have won just four of their last 19 outings.

Saturday’s draw followed four consecutive defeats, with the concerning dip in form coming just as points are desperately required to secure a top-four finish.

But Crawford is optimistic the lows will have taught his players a valuable lesson as they head into their remaining five crucial league games.

He added: “It is about learning. When you look at the age of the group of players that we have got in here, it is exciting to think that they have big chunks of their career ahead of them.

“You can learn from adversity, you can learn from sore ones and defeats, but it is a matter of moving on.

“I think they showed what it meant playing for Dunfermline. There was a pride in them and they were hurting as players as well.”