TWO cup exits to teams in the division the Pars aim to be back in next season won’t get them down.

That’s the message from captain Kyle Benedictus, who believes that they can take confidence from their matches with Partick Thistle and Dundee as they look to go on and claim the League One title.

The 31-year-old, who gave his side the lead from the spot, before missing in the penalty shoot-out, during Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie at Firhill, said there were plenty of positives for Dunfermline to take from both that tie, and their SPFL Trust Trophy quarter-final defeat at his former club, Dundee, on Tuesday evening.

Athletic competed well in both matches against the Championship pair but just fell short. However, Benedictus saw enough in their performances to ensure that their dressing room remains upbeat.

They go into Saturday’s match at bottom side Clyde seven points clear at the top and, post-match at Dens Park, he told Press Sport: “The boys will not be down.

“As soon as we got in there, the manager’s said how proud he is again of the boys. Playing in the game, I see how much they’re giving for the club, I can see how much they’re playing for the club.

“We were in there with the music on after the game, so it’ll not put us down.

“I’ve said to the boys in there as well, look at what we’ve produced these last two games. We were probably unfortunate in both games, and it just shows you where we can go.

“I’ve said from the start of the season, first and foremost, the league we’re in, we need to win games, and we’ve been doing that.

“We’ve got three months left to the end of the season. We just need to keep doing what we’re doing, against the teams we’re playing in the league, and you never know where we’ll be come the end of the season.

“In the League Cup, I’m sure if we’d won on penalties (against Alloa Athletic in their last group stage match), we would’ve went through in that as well, so there’s two games we’ve been put out on penalty shoot-outs.

“Tonight, we’ve come, given it our best shot and, for most of the game, we’ve matched them until maybe 85 minutes, when they’ve gone and got their third goal when we’re pushing for a goal.

“It just shows you how much confidence the boys can take going into the games that matter most to us in the league.”

He added: “We’re obviously disappointed with the result.

“Obviously, we came here to win. It’s a cup competition we wanted to do well in, and I thought we gave a good account of ourselves again.

“That’s Saturday and Tuesday, against teams from a higher league, and I thought we’ve matched both of them.”

Benedictus’ positivity was echoed by his manager, James McPake, who said: “It’s not papering over Saturday or tonight, because we wanted to win both games, of course we did, but we more than showed we can handle that level of opposition back-to-back.

“On another couple of days, we maybe go and get a win in a penalty shoot-out, and if we take maybe a chance early on in this game, it could be different, but that’s all ifs and buts.

“There’s been a few when we’ve been disappointed with the level of performance, but I don’t think anyone that watched that, in terms of our fans – Dundee fans will be delighted for their football club because they’ve progressed – but our fans, I think, in terms of the performance, will be pretty happy.”