ALLAN JOHNSTON believes his team aren’t far away from hitting top form and that they are capable of piling pressure on the Championship’s top two.

The Pars boss was left frustrated by Saturday’s stalemate with second-top Dundee United that saw them miss the chance to cut the gap on the Tangerines to four points.

Declan McManus, having twice been thwarted by the excellence of goalkeeper Harry Lewis, came inches away from giving Dunfermline a deserved win in injury-time when his rocket shot crashed off the post.

The result means that Johnston’s men are 15 points behind St Mirren – who they meet next Friday night – having played a game less but he is adamant they’ll continue to fight for at least a play-off place.

“We looked lively and dangerous, although I think we can still lift it again,” he told Press Sport.

“I think we can still improve. There was a lot of good bits but there’s things we can do better, sometimes decision-making and whatever, so hopefully that’s something we can work on that will push us forward again.

“You could see we’re not far away and it wasn’t for a lack of trying. I thought the boys deserved to get the win and there were a lot of good performances but you’re always looking to try and move forward and its important now, at this time of the year, that we put a run together.

“Obviously, St Mirren have got a big lead now but we’ve just got to focus on ourselves. There’s no point in just looking at St Mirren’s results or Dundee United’s; we have to to try and put a run of results together and see where it takes us.

“I’m sure everyone will be out to try and cut that back but we need to go on a run to catch Dundee United and try to catch St Mirren. It’s going to be hard, we know that, but when you see the performance against Dundee United, it shows there’s nothing between the teams.

“We’ve got to make sure we put in that type of performance and are a threat no matter who we play. There’s a lot of points to be won and lost and the next wee part is turning draws like that into wins.

“We’re in a good position just now but that’s all it is, a good position. It’s all about the second half of the season, how we respond and trying to put pressure on the teams up above us.”

Before then, a place in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup is up for grabs when Morton visit East End on Saturday and a win could even add to Johnston’s January budget.

He’s still searching for reinforcements and continued: “We’ve had a couple of boys in on trial. We had a couple in last week, have a couple in this week and will have more boys coming in in the next couple of weeks. We’ve been at a lot of games down south as well.

“It always helps if you can bring in a bit of extra money but we’re trying to bring in some players just now. If there’s any extra money then I’m sure it would be made available.

“It’s important we try and get through on Saturday. It always gives everyone a buzz to see who you’re going to get in the next round of the cup but we know it’ll be hard.

“Every game against Morton seems to be really close; there’s not much between the teams and we play them in a couple of weeks in the league, so hopefully we can get the upper hand.”

Illness has been sweeping the club over the last week but Lee Ashcroft trained on Monday after missing the United match and should be available this weekend, while Callum Smith also returned but didn’t complete the session.

Johnston added that Stuart Morrison will extend his loan with Edinburgh City until the end of the season, while youngster Paul Allan has agreed a similar deal with junior side Hill of Beath Hawthorn.