DUNFERMLINE'S rugby stars are set to make a 582 mile round-trip to Orkney as they look to seal promotion on Saturday.

The McKane men will make the long coach journey north today (Friday) - including an overnight stay in John O' Groats - before a 9am ferry tomorrow (Saturday) for the match that, barring a mathematical miracle, will rubber-stamp their step-up to National League Three.

Derek O'Riordan's team ran in 18 tries as they trounced St Andrews University 124-0 in their final home match last Saturday to leave them five points clear of Orkney, who lost to champions Perthshire.

The islanders would have to defeat Dunfermline by 117 clear points to claim the bonus point victory that would propel them above the Fifers and into the second promotion place on points difference.

With O'Riordan's men boasting the best defence in the league and with just two away defeats all season, such a scenario is unlikely.

But the head coach told Press Sport that the marathon trip, which will see them arrive back in Dunfermline in the early hours of Sunday morning, will not be treated as a "jolly" by his squad.

He said, "We are 99.9 per cent promoted as I don't think that Orkney will put 117 points past us. But we are already talking to the squad that it will not be a jolly as we are going up there to win. We want to be promoted outright rather than on points difference so we are not going to get carried away as we need to focus.

"We'll leave at 12.30pm on Friday and after the match we'll get the 4.40pm ferry back, so we won't be back to Dunfermline until around 1am. This is the third time they've had to do this as the other two matches were cancelled so it's great testament to the players that they still want to go up to Orkney to play a game of rugby.

"We had a celebration on Saturday, which was a great spectacle from our point of view, but we can't relax. Another reason I am delighted we'll be promoted is that this is a horrible league to be in with the travelling involved, but the players have done well and bought into what we've tried to do." O'Riordan continued, "We didn't have a team of stars but what we said to the guys was that Caine (assistant coach McIntyre) and I have only played a 10 per cent part in what we've achieved, the rest is down to them.

"Next year will be very competitive with six teams of the same level going up and six dropping down into the league, so it won't be as straightforward as it has been this year. But we're already planning for it and want to keep developing the guys we have and players who are playing locally."