Manager Neil Lennon has called on his players to show greater consistency ahead of Saturday’s William Hill Championship derby against Raith Rovers, warning that what could be a great season risks ending in disappointment.
The Pars travel to Starks Park having won only one of their last six matches, a 2-1 Scottish Cup victory over Queen of the South, and currently sit sixth in the table, just one point behind their Fife rivals who occupy fifth place.
Both the previous two matches this season between the teams have resulted in 2-0 wins for the home side. Neil is wary of the threat posed by Raith under new manager Dougie Imrie since his move from Morton. The new Rovers boss has overseen an unbeaten five-match run since replacing Barry Robson in November, Neil continued:-
“I think that’s what it is. They’ve got a good bounce. He knows the division well. He hasn’t been able to change the personnel. He’s obviously working on maybe a change of shape and a little bit of giving the team confidence as well. To beat Ross County 6-0 is tremendous. And then to get a point with 10 men against Thistle is tremendous. Dougie’s teams are always hard to beat, we’ve got to find a solution.”
Inconsistency the Main Concern
While Neil believes his side can challenge for a play-off place, he admits his team have been underperforming and losing too many matches. The manager was particularly scathing about a recent Jekyll and Hyde performance that saw his side improve dramatically after half-time, but only after falling behind.
“We’re up there trying to challenge with them now. We have to be more consistent. We’ve lost too many games for my liking this season,” Neil said. “We have to find that level of consistency and eradicate the mistakes. And just play better, positive football which we did in the second half.”
The Northern Irishman revealed that assistant manager Iain Brunskill delivered a wake-up call to the players at half-time during their last match, making clear that standards had slipped:-
“You can’t accept it and you can’t say to the players that’s alright because it’s not. They’re better than that and they’ve proved that. We were so passive, we lacked any sort of aggression in our play. All the goals were comical in the way we defended. It’s not the standards that we set or the way we want them to play.”
Slow Starts a Recurring Problem
A particular concern for Neil has been his team’s sluggish beginnings to matches. In nine games this season, Dunfermline have conceded the opening goal within the first ten minutes, including in the last fixture at Starks Park when Lewis Stevenson scored inside two minutes.
“I say to them where do you go from me leaving the dressing room to kick off?” Neil said. “It’s not the messaging that we’re giving you. It’s not the approach and the way we want you to play the game. We lacked a bit of leadership on Saturday and we lacked a little bit of collective responsibility.”
The manager held an analysis meeting with his squad to address the issues, suggesting voices might be raised as players are shown exactly where they are falling short.
“Sometimes a little bit of a chastening like that, you’re looking for a response now but we can’t be as inconsistent as that,” he said. “Otherwise what could be a really good season could end up disappointing. That’s the one thing we fear. We don’t want them to drift.”
Derby Demands
With both teams harbouring ambitions of finishing in the top four, Saturday’s derby takes on added significance. The Pars boss is hopeful his players learned from their poor start in the previous meeting at Starks Park and can replicate the performance that saw them win the home fixture 2-0:-
“You’d like to think they learned from that specifically for this fixture. They corrected it here at East End Park, we won 2-0. We want to go there and we’re going to have to earn the right to play. That’s something we didn’t do on Saturday.
“Getting back to the basics and fundamentals of the game first. Obviously if you’ve got territory and possession then try and play your football. You have to earn the right to play and we didn’t do that.”
With the play-offs still within reach and a big cup tie against Hibs on the horizon, Neil believes the season can still be salvaged, but only if his players raise their game consistently.
“We still have a chance at the play-offs. We’ve got a big game in the cup coming up and it could be a great season but they’ve got to step up and play better because they’re more than capable of that,” he concluded.
