Heartbreak will benefit Mcmanus

Declan Mcmanus spent last season trying all he could to avoid the playoffs – but is desperate to see Dunfermline seal their place this afternoon.

The Pars striker was with Fife rivals Raith Rovers last term and ended up in a relegation battle that went all the way to the play-offs before the Kirkcaldy outfit slipped into League 1.

This year, he has been eyeing promotion to the Premiership instead and the Fifers will clinch a top-four spot if they beat in-form Inverness this afternoon.

Mcmanus admits it is an entirely different sensation this time, but he hopes to put his Rovers experience to good use should Dunfermline see off Inverness and Morton for a play-off place.

The 23-year-old said: “It’s a lot better feeling this season. After a game, you know you’re pushing for something good, rather than pushing to avoid something bad.

“But I think I learned a lot from last year’s play-offs. It was a massive learning curve and I wouldn’t change that, as much as I wouldn’t have wanted it at the time, I learned a lot from it.

“Hopefully come May, I’ll be in a better place mentally going into our first playoff game and ready for it. I’ve played in a bad version of the play-offs and had that heartache, and you can only learn from that.

“This is a huge game. Inverness are just like us, they’re on a winning streak as well, so it’s probably one of the toughest games we’ll have had in the last six or seven weeks. But we know what we need to do.”