ATHLETIC manager James McPake has said that work to shape his squad for next season is set to step up after they secured their place in the Championship.

Tomorrow evening (Friday) they travel to Ayr United for their last game of the campaign safe in the knowledge that they will be playing second tier football next term, thanks to their draw against Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Saturday.

The outcome of the match at Somerset Park will determine which position the Pars finish in, following their League One title success 12 months ago, but McPake said that the process of making decisions on recruitment has already begun.

When asked if the club would increase their preparations for next term after consolidating their Championship status, the boss, who also has to weigh up whether to offer new deals to out-of-contract players such as Alex Jakubiak, Paul Allan, Max Little and Miller Fenton, told Press Sport: "We need to now.

"We'll get this game out the way but there's work going on in the background. We need to get everything sorted as much as we can and be ready.

"It's tough, because there's other teams still playing, but we're working away to try and strengthen this squad.

"That's always the aim when you're at this stage in the season, but it never works out that way, but we're certainly working away to try and do all we can."

McPake was also pleased to receive news that Ewan Otoo, who has missed Dunfermline's last two matches with a knee problem, won't require surgery.

The 21-year-old, who was named the Joe Nelson Young Player of the Year at last month's Centenary Club awards, suffered the injury during last month's defeat at Airdrieonians, ruling him out for the remainder of the season.

After having scans, and the club consulting with specialists, the good news is that he doesn't need to go under the knife.

"He's pleased with that," McPake said.

"He's got a fair bit of work to do over the summer to be right for pre-season, but knowing Ewan, he'll come back and he'll be ready to go on the first day."

Otoo will miss out on the match with the Honest Men, for which McPake will assess a few knocks that some of his squad are carrying ahead of the game.

"It is two teams that know what league they're going to be in, but it's still a game, and we'll prepare as normal," he said.

"Taking the league status out of it, there's still an awful lot to play for, in terms of performance. We've been in this situation last season, where we had the league wrapped up, so it's still important we do things properly.

"I don't think Scott Brown (Ayr United manager) will be looking at it any differently from the way we're looking at it. I don't buy into the suggestion that the pressure's off. It's a game of football - we'll take a support down, Ayr United will have a support - and we're just taking it like every other game.

"We just want to perform properly. We want to go down and get a good performance.

"It's an important game for us because it's our last game of the season, it's an important game for Ayr United, and both teams will be desperate to win it."