There were positive signs in the latter part of the season that Dunfermline were turning the corner. However, they ran out of games and luck. Next season they will have to carry on where they left off.

Dunfermline are looking at the positive side of their cup run, that ended in defeat at Hampden on Saturday, to build on for next season's challenge of getting out of the hardest league in Scotland. Hardest to get out of in the upward direction anyway. The Pars were relegated from the SPL just two weeks ago after a late collapse at Inverness, and suffered another cruel blow when Celtic right-back Jean-Joel Perrier-Doumbe prodded home his first goal for his club, an 85th-minute winner at Hampden. The long summer break will allow the East End Park squad time to consider what went wrong and strive to improve things. Midfielder Darren Young feels they must focus on the positives from the last few months. A run of five wins in six games in April proved Stephen Kenny's potential as a manager, while they more than matched Celtic in the first half at Hampden. Young said: "I enjoyed the day but it's hard going away as a loser again. You have just got to keep your head up and hopefully take that into next season. We have shown this season when we beat Rangers, Hearts and Hibs that we know we can do it. Obviously we have been relegated but if we take that sort of attitude into next season then hopefully we can get ourselves back up again."

Young had brushed off a knee injury to make Saturday's starting line-up and a determined display in central midfield earned him the Tennent's man of the match award. But that was little consolation for missing out on a cup winners medal. He added: "It's nice to get these things from a personal point of view, but from the fans and team's point of view I would rather not get it and win the cup. It's nice to get it but you are better going home with a winner's medal."

Defender Scott Wilson took the loss hard and struggled to be optimistic in the immediate aftermath of the late defeat. He said: "The positives are that we beat a lot of good teams to get here, we didn't get hammered against a Champions League team, we had a good performance (in the final). But we have ended up with nothing." The reality of playing First Division football next season has still to hit home to Wilson and he fully expects to feel more pain when the fixture list is issued. He missed the chance to help get the points needed in the 2-1 defeat at Inverness after his controversial red card in the win over Motherwell. He said: "The relegation was a bit weird because I wasn't playing in the game at Inverness when we got relegated, so I feel I haven't had the full brunt of it. It will probably only hit me in the first game of next season when we see who we get."

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