Queen of the South striker Derek Lyle admits he will be devastated if the Doonhamers miss out on the exciting end of season play-offs.
A run of three straight defeats has left Queens with a mountain to climb in their bid to finish in the top four with Raith Rovers currently eight points clear.
The veteran marksman has taken part in the promotion deciders in each of the last two campaigns as the Dumfries outfit were narrowly beaten by Falkirk and Rangers at the quarter-final stage.
And Lyle admits it will be hard to accept looking on from the outside this time.
Speaking ahead of today’s visit of Dumbarton, Lyle said: “You need to be picking up points and it’s the worst possible time to go through this patch.
“The boys are all gutted about it but there is no point in moping or moaning about it.
“It’s going to be tough to reach the play-offs but there’s still hope there – we won’t give up.
“We’ve been in amongst it the last couple of years and it’s been great.
“It’s great to play in the big games; we went to Rangers last season and had Falkirk the year before that.
“We ran Rangers close and gave them a good game over the two legs and if we don’t reach it this time I’ll be devastated. You don’t want to be watching on from far.
“Even if you don’t progress, it’s still games you enjoy and you can go away on your holidays with your head held high knowing you gave it a good shot.”
Lyle reckons the size of last summer’s player turnover has taken it’s toll after manager James Fowler lost the likes of Gavin Reilly, Danny Carmichael, Mark Durnan, Kevin Holt and Ian McShane.
The 35-year-old added: “If you look at the bigger picture, we had a lot of boys leaving to go on to bigger clubs, and that’s not being disrespectful to Queen of the South.
“It’s been a big transitional period for the club and the manager. The manager had has his hands tied behind his back in many ways.”
