East Fife must maintain their standards

The Bayview squad left nothing on the park at the weekend as they went down 2-0 to promotion chasing Falkirk.

The Bairns may have won the match, but there were plenty of signs from the Fifers that they had developed a new mental toughness which will serve them well in the coming weeks.

East Fife may still be eight points adrift at the foot of League One, but a win over the Blue Toon this weekend will see that gap shrink.

At the very least it will pull Peterhead, who are 10 points above East Fife, back closer to them.

“Peterhead had a hard game up there against East Kilbride in the Scottish Cup on Saturday but, they went through, so they’ll take positives from that,” said Crawford.

"But I look back at the game we played up there where we were unfortunate to lose a goal late on.

"We gave them a run for their money so it’ll be good to get them down to Bayview.

"Yes we have to be aware of where Peterhead’s strengths are but my point of reference is the Falkirk game.

"It was there for everybody to see that every man worked their socks off.

"That’s what I have to go back to and say to the players, ‘come on then, let’s replicate that’.

"It’s fine margins, for their the second goal I have Aaron Steele up front but, for their first, the ball goes just over Steele’s head.

"Falkirk didn’t have too many chances at the weekend.

"The workrate and the commitment levels were there and then the fans got behind us.

"It’s about us now just having a bit more belief and taking care in the final third to make sure we’re working the goalkeeper.”

The was some disappointing news on the injury front this week with it confirmed that Ross Davidson has suffered a metatarsal injury and will be out for some weeks.

Stewart Murdoch and Kieran Millar are close to returning, as is Danny Swanson who played for 60 minutes in a recent under-20s match.

“If we can get Danny back before the end of the season it would be a boost because he’s done it at the highest level,” added Crawford.