RHYS BREEN is confident that the Pars will "hit the ground running" in the Championship and that they are working on creating more goalscoring opportunities.

The centre back and his team-mates are preparing for their final Premier Sports Cup Group E encounter with Cove Rangers this afternoon with progression set to elude them for a third successive season.

After a 3-0 win at The Spartans in their opener, a damaging home defeat to Forfar Athletic, and last Saturday's single-goal reverse at Championship rivals Livingston, has left them staring at an exit from the competition.

Athletic boss James McPake has stated that he wants to use today's game with their League One opponents as preparation for the beginning of their league campaign, at Livi next week, and Breen is optimistic they'll be ready.

Dunfermline Press:

"The boys have trained well this week after the disappointing result against Livingston," he said.

"I thought we can take a lot out of the game but we have to tidy up on a few things at the top end of the pitch, in the middle of the pitch and in defence. It is something that we have been working on all week, every single day, just to make sure that we are ready for the season ahead.

"I wouldn’t say it’s a concern (a lack of goals). We know ourselves that we are not creating as many chances as we should but we have been working on it and when the season starts we will hit the ground running. It is just one of those things.

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"With the pre-season games and cup games they are really really hard games. Some are against teams from lower leagues, but every one is really tough. We just need to make sure that we are ready for the game against Cove on Saturday and the league starts next week.

"We are excited for that."

Dunfermline have failed to find the net in each of their last two games, and in three of their four pre-season friendlies, and today's match provides an opportunity to put in a performance that will give their supporters more belief going into the league campaign.

"Yes, we have been working really really hard on it. We are ready for Cove and the boys are excited for the league," Breen continued.

"We know that it is going to be a good season for us. We want to hit the ground running. We will just work on a few things, tidy up on a lot of things.

"We looked at the game against Livingston. There are a lot of positive things to take out of it, but just wee simple things within the game - in defence, midfield, the attackers. We have gone through everything so I think we will be tidy in the next game coming up.

"We are out the cup, we know that and it’s a kick to us but the way we have been training we will be ready and fully focussed on the game on Saturday."