NICKY CLARK has admitted that he's unsure why Dunfermline's form has hit a blip – but is adamant they will put it right.

The 26-year-old was in the right spot to head home his 10th goal of the campaign on Saturday to rescue a point for an out-of-sorts Pars against a Dumbarton side they'd thumped 4-0 away from home in August.

A poor performance saw the hosts trail twice and, after being held to a draw by Greenock Morton last midweek, it was another two points dropped in their bid to keep pace with the Championship leaders.

Athletic are now without a win in their last four league games – three of which have been drawn – and are four points behind Dundee United, who they face at Tannadice on Saturday.

Clark readily acknowledged that recent displays haven't lived up to Dunfermline's early season form, but said: "We kept going when we lost two goals, battled away and fortunately managed to get the goal to equalise, but at the end of the day we feel that we lost two points.

"We need to dig in, stick together as a team and keep fighting. We will come out the other end of it, we know that.

"Every club will go through a spell in the season like our one just now. We can't put our finger on the reason for it but it is up to us to get it right.

"When you are not winning, you lose a bit of confidence, but we have players in the dressing room who have played loads and loads of games at a higher level.

"We know what we have to do. We don't know what the problem is just now but we will work it out."