ATHLETIC midfielder Liam Polworth believes that results on the road will be just as crucial as those at home in the relegation run-in.

The on-loan Kilmarnock player, who will miss this weekend’s visit to his parent club under the terms of his temporary move, says that they can’t rely solely on their remaining two matches at East End to see them to Championship safety.

Ahead Wednesday's final Fife derby at home to Raith Rovers – which the Pars won 2-0 – Dunfermline closed the gap on eighth-placed Ayr United to two points, while increasing their advantage over bottom side, Queen of the South, to six.

As well as their trip to Rugby Park, John Hughes’ team go to Partick Thistle on the penultimate weekend, and, crucially, host both Ayr and Queens, on April 16 and the final day, April 29, respectively.

The significance of those games is not lost on Polworth, who believes Pars’ form at East End provides grounds for optimism, but he thinks they also need to try to take that into their remaining away fixtures.

“When we see the fixtures, those are the fixtures you need to be targeting and you need to win. A draw’s not going to be enough,” Polworth, speaking ahead of the Raith game to Press Sport, said of the two remaining home matches.

“Those are the games we need to be winning, and obviously at home, that’s the way we’ll be going into them.

“It was a bad result for us last weekend (at Inverness) but I felt like, before that, we were starting to really play well as a team. Maybe the results hadn’t quite gone our way for what we’d put into the games, but we were doing well before that I thought.

“Since I’ve been there, it looks like strong home form. Obviously, if you turn some of the draws into a win, you should be alright.

“If you want to get yourselves out of it, which is the stage we’re at now, you need to be picking up points away from home as well. You can’t just rely on winning games at home.

“We know it’s nice to play at home; we’ve got a big, grass pitch that we’re all used to, and obviously away from home, it can be a little bit different.

“I think you need to take it one game at a time.

“You need to go into each game just concentrating on that game; if you start looking too far ahead, people will start getting distracted.”

Polworth, 27, had played five matches prior to last night’s derby since arriving at the end of February, and admits that it will be a strange experience when his loan and parent teams come together.

“It’s a tough situation when you’re involved with both teams,” he added.

“I think if you’re playing football and you’re not really playing on a Saturday, you’re not going to be enjoying it. Everyone wants to be playing.

“I think it’s one of those things where you just want to come in and, obviously play football, but help everyone around. Hopefully that’s what we can keep doing.”