STEVEN LAWLESS admitted that there were "words said" in the Dunfermline dressing room on Saturday and has urged his team-mates to follow the example of Livingston to help them in their relegation fight.

The 30-year-old, who joined the club in December until the end of the season, said that the Pars "need to show a bit of togetherness" after the 5-0 thrashing at Morton, which manager John Hughes described as "embarassing".

Goals from Gary Oliver, Cameron Blues and ex-Par, Gavin Reilly, had the hosts three goals up at the break, before an own goal from debutant Coll Donaldson, and a strike from another former Dunfermline man, Robbie Muirhead, completed the rout.

It lifted Dougie Imrie's men above their opponents, who slumped to the bottom, and face Hamilton Academical at home on Saturday.

Lawless, making his second appearance for the club, told the media afterwards: "There were definitely words said.

"There was no pointing the finger at anybody, we know that it is a team effort. It is not one person who needs to get the desire and hunger to throw your body in front of the ball or win your tackles and win your battle against your opposite number. That is just basics but that is what we need to be doing.

"We maybe thought that it was going to be a different type of game today but we need to go into every game thinking that it is a battle and then let our football do the talking. If we don’t go into it think that it’s going to be a battle and try to win that battle then it will be a long season.

"We know what we need to work on, what we need to improve.

"We need to show a bit of togetherness and a bit of grit and aggression on the park. I think in the first half that we actually played not bad, but the dirty side of the game cost us today.

"We were a little naive and gave away silly goals. We have things that we need to work on to tighten up. If we can sort that side of our game, I think we could be good enough to move up the table, but that is the basics.

"That is what we need to work on, the foundations. We need to work hard to get that because it is not easy to instil in players and have. We know what we need to get and hopefully we are working towards that and we can turn the corner quick."

When asked if he thought his experience could help, he pointed to his time at Premiership Livi, continuing: "I think my experience could be helpful if you look at the teams that I have played for. Look at Livingston, that is the one thing that they have got in abundance - the desire, hunger and they work for everybody.

"Hopefully I can bring that aspect into it and get the boys working that way because footballing wise I think we could be really good but we need that dirty side of the game where we earn the right to play, all work for each other. That is what we need to get.

"We are all aware of what we need, there were words spoken after the game that were needed to be honest. Hopefully we can all pull together and get ourselves up the table. At the end of the day we just need to get points on the board, that breeds confidence and that can help us going forward."