HE’S the last line of defence and often Pars’ saviour but Sean Murdoch reckons his team-mates deserve praise for tightening up ahead of him.

And the in-form keeper believes it’s only a matter of time before they find their shooting boots at the other end to register the wins that will keep them well clear of any relegation danger.

Murdoch, who couldn’t keep a sixth clean sheet in Athletic’s run of two losses in 17 league games thanks to John McGinn’s opener on Saturday, says he doesn’t feel any additional pressure if goals aren’t coming at the other end and has backed his mates to end the campaign with a goal-rush.

Ahead of Saturday’s derby with Raith Rovers the 30-year-old, who believes a victory before Tuesday’s Tannadice tussle with Dundee United would all but guarantee Championship safety, told Press Sport: “I missed the first 5-6 games of the season but we were far too open; teams were getting in behind us and had easy opportunities. Last season we could get away with – no disrespect to those teams – but better teams and better players exploit it, and that’s what happened.

“The whole team are doing ok defensively and I think the wingers is a big part of that. They’re doubling up and helping the full backs and big Cal (Callum Morris) has been a solid addition and come on to a game. Dycey (Callum Fordyce) has done well too and has maybe been unlucky to be out the team, but Cal and Lee (Ashcroft) are forming a good partnership. That can only bode well for us and we’ve been getting clean sheets, but we need to chip in with more goals.

“We attack well and really go for it but when teams sometimes sit in, we have to make sure if we get a chance we take it. We have got forwards to get us goals; look at the Dumbarton game, we scored five and could have had more. We maybe get frustrated too early and need to relax, but we have good attacking players and it’s only a matter of time before we score more goals.”

Despite still having to face fourth-placed United, Murdoch feels that the 11 point gap to the promotion play-offs will be too much to close but he is confident they’ll assure themselves of another season in the Championship with a win over their neighbours from along the A92.

Three points separate the teams, with Dunfermline a further three clear of bottom dogs St Mirren, and the stopper continued: “If we get three points on Saturday I think we will consolidate, but we’ve got to make sure that happens. We don’t want to be losing games – especially if the teams below us are winning – but Raith are a difficult team to play against.

“We’ve got to make sure we’re on our own game and I think the last time we played them (2-0 win at New Year) was one of our best displays of the season. The same on Saturday would be nice!

“I think the promotion play-offs are out of reach unless something completely crazy happens. If we were to finish fifth and be ‘best of the rest’ in our first season back up then it’s not been a bad season.

“After Saturday we have five games to play but hopefully we can go to Tannadice full of confidence after a good result against Raith.

“We seem to play better against the so-called better teams but I expect there’ll be a good crowd on Saturday so we’ll be going at it.”