Play off good, bad and ugly

“Hopefully come May I will be in a better place mentally going into a play off and I will be ready for it. I have had a bit of heartache in the play offs.”

What a difference a year makes. Last season Pars striker, Declan McManus was fighting for Raith Rovers to avoid the play offs, this season he is hoping to make the play offs at the other end of the Championship table. He claimed:-

“It is a lot better feeling knowing that you are pushing for something good rather than pushing to avoid something bad. I learned a lot from last year’s play offs.”

Declan scored in both Raith Rovers play off matches against Brechin City but after a 4-4 aggregate score went out 4-3 on penalties. That followed from winning the League On title at Morton and a transfer to Fleetwood Town. He continued:-

“Even at Aberdeen I don’t recall many bad times there. We won a lot of games, so last season at Raith was a massive learning curve for me. Looking back on it, I wouldn’t change it. I wouldn’t have wanted that at the time but I have learned a lot from it.

“Hopefully come May I will be in a better place mentally going into a play off and I will be ready for it. I have had a bit of heartache in the play offs.”

The Rovers demise came as a big shock to the then 22 year old Declan. He felt that they had the team and everything needed to have a much better season. He added:-

“Everything went wrong but this year with a great squad, even boys who aren’t playing are more than capable.

“Andy Ryan came on at the weekend and scored a goal. Joe Cardle has ten or eleven goals but he is on the bench for the last few weeks. We definitely have the squad to go all the way, we just need to make sure that this Saturday that we seal it and make the play offs.”

Third placed Dundee United need one point from their last two matches to guarantee a play off place so the final play off place looks likely to be between Dunfermline and Inverness Caley. Caley are unbeaten in nine games, Dunfermline in eight but the Pars were the last side to beat the Highlanders. Declan described the players feelings:-

“As a team we are going into games a lot more confident. We have had our bad streak and now we just need to grind out that one result. When you are more relaxed going into games but Saturday is a massive game.

“Inverness are just like us, they are on a winning streak as well and this will be one of the toughest that we are going to have. As we know we need to win it to get into the play offs, so that’s what exactly we will be trying to do.”

Anyone making a play off place wants to get there on the back of good current form. Inverness and Dunfermline certainly have shown that:-

“Everybody is flying in games and in training as well. There is a good vibe about the place and everybody is enjoying it and striving for the same thing. We want to get into the play offs and we want to make sure that we are in a position, after the Dumbarton game, to go and try and challenge to get back to the Premier League.”

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