Josh says punishment exercise for team

"If you keep playing like the way we did against Airdrie, it is going to bite you in the bum.

Dunfermline captain Josh Falkingham explained that he and his team mates were massively disappointed to lose to tenth placed Airdrieonians on Saturday:-

"We came into this game in good form and picked up two good results after the Rangers game. It is a tough time of year to play in and in the last couple of games, to be honest, we have possibly have not been at our best. We have not got near the high standards that we have set but we have managed to dig deep and dig out results.

"If you keep playing like the way we did against Airdrie, it is going to bite you in the bum. We learned a harsh lesson that if you do not stick to the high standards that we set ourselves, you will get nothing out of football."

There was a great opportunity from a Josh cross near the end for on loan Lawrence Shankland to equalise but it was Airdrie's seventh keeper of the season, Grant Adam, who was to be the hero:-

"I think he pulled off a great save and sometimes in football you don't create enough of those type of chances. You cannot just say that when we get one that it has to go in. Football is not like that, you have got to beat the keeper in front of you and beat the defenders in front of you. I am really disappointed that we didn't manage to create any other clear cut chances apart from that one. We probably got what we deserved today."

The 23 year old Yorkshireman was adamant that the team has to go out to win every game despite the fact that a play off place is becoming more and more likely.

"I have not even looked at the league. I heard that we are eight points clear of the team behind and I know where Rangers are but I do not look at that before a game and think 'oh if we don't get a result, we are fine here'. We are out to win the football game and that has been clear since the start of the season, never mind whether or not Rangers are in the league.

"We go into every game wanting to win and on Saturday we didn't start well enough. We didn't pick up to the pace in the second half, we gave it a good effort but nowhere near what we are capable of doing."

Saturday's defeat to Airdrieonians was the third time this season that Dunfermline have lost to a side sitting bottom of the table. In consecutive games in October, Forfar Athletic and East Fife inflicted defeats from bottom spot. Josh dismissed suggestions that the team might be complacent going into a match that everybody expected them to win:-

"I have never felt an attitude in our team that we just need to turn up and win. If you go into games and are not right at it because of the fact that you are so high above them and they are so far below you. But not with this group. The disappointing thing is that we have managed to get great results in the week's coming up to this game. It is a tough question to answer; in the games where we have not turned up and haven't performed to the standards that we have set, we have been punished for that and Saturday was just like the other two results."

Listen to this Josh Falkingham interview