Pars shot-stopper Scully, 22, produced a string of fine saves to keep a rampant Morton side down to four goals on Saturday.

And Potter was furious with what he felt was an unacceptable display by his 10 outfield players, and even accused them of throwing in the towel towards the end.

The 35-year-old seethed: “That wasn’t good enough for the whole 90 minutes. We seemed to accept it towards the end as well. I’ll not have that, not from one of my teams. For me, there was a wee acceptance towards the end and they let things happen that shouldn’t have happened. That’s disappointing [and hard] to take.

“We have to do better; it’s as simple as that. We looked weak defensively, we didn’t create chances or have shots when the opportunities were there — we picked the wrong options.

“The goal just before half-time was a crucial goal. It was a silly pass into midfield. It shouldn’t have happened and we were punished for it. I thought in the first half we started okay and then they came into it, but the second half was disappointing.

“We didn’t look like we were going to score and they looked threatening every time the ball was kicked up the pitch. [We] looked weak and we have to be physically stronger.

“Did I see any positives? Ryan Scully, again. I can’t keep saying it week after week. He made great saves. He was great and couldn’t do anything about the goals.

“And I actually feel sorry for him because he’s performing well but the players in front of him, the other 10, have to do better.

“Today, we were miles off where we should be, and it’s my job and it’s Neil [McCann]’s job, to try and pick the players back up and pick a winning team.

“It’s really difficult but that’s what we do. We’ll sit down and work out what went wrong, and we’ll go on to next week. Fingers crossed we can do it.” The defeat saw pre-season title favourites Dunfermline slip down to sixth place, five points behind Brechin City in the final play-off spot.

Although their chances of clawing that back look impossible on this form, Potter is still holding out hope they can finish the final five games well and snatch fourth place.