Dunfermline manager Stevie Crawford says he can’t rule out the likes of Crystal Palace loanee Scott Banks from Saturday’s match with Ayr United just yet/
The Pars face a huge game at Somerset Park after dropping out the Scottish Championship play-off spots. But while it’s too early to rule out any short-term absentees, Crystal Palace loanee Scott Banks, Paul Watson and Steven Whittaker are in a race against time.
Crawford said: “Both Paul and Steven have done some partial training in the early parts of the week. Scott Banks, who hurt his calf at the weekend, has missed the early parts but we’ve not ruled him out for the weekend. It’s too early in the week for me to say. I can’t rule anyone out, other than Ryan Dow and Lewis Martin.”
Meanwhile, striker Declan McManus is keen to repair the wounds of previous promotion play-off hurt. The Pars lost to Dundee United in the 2018 Premiership play-off matches and that pain is driving him.
McManus said: “As everybody knows we have a tough five games ahead of us. I think we went the ten games unbeaten just before the play offs. We weren’t in as good a position as we are in now. Those ten games took us in to the play offs.
“This time, for me at Dunfermline I am driven by the pain of the last play offs. I felt in the two games against Dundee United that we were by far the better team. Probably we should have got through that tie and then it would have been a tough game against Livingston and then obvious Partick Thistle.
“We all felt at the time if we could have got past United, we could have gone all the way. It was a tough one to take so it is important to take it at least one step further this time.”
NTOF now offers a YouTube channel featuring exclusive interviews, post-match discussion, in-depth debate, and much more – LIKE and SUBSCRIBE and don’t miss any of our videos.