JAMES MCPAKE admitted that regaining the winning feeling was important for Dunfermline - and now he wants to replicate it on home turf.

The Pars ended a nine-game winless run last Friday evening with an impressive victory at Partick Thistle, which was followed up with a goalless draw at Inverness Caledonian Thistle on Tuesday evening.

They host Ayr United today with the chance to try and put further distance between themselves and the relegation zone, but haven't enjoyed success at KDM Group East End Park since late November.

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Five home outings - four of which have ended in defeat - have come and gone since that 3-0 win over bottom side Arbroath, and McPake, whose side are three games unbeaten, is eager to give the home fans something to shout about this afternoon.

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"I don’t know the actual overall records, but we’ve probably won more games away from home, and that was the same last year," he said.

"We do need to get back to winning games here.

"If you take the Arbroath game (their last home match, which ended 1-1) out of it, we were disappointed with that, because we did enough in that game to win it with the chances we created.

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"But, any time you’re away to Partick and away to Inverness, if they said you’ll win one and draw one, you would take it. And you wouldn’t care what way it was.

"The big thing was just to get the win again. It had been going on for so long.

"It wasn’t papering over it but I was getting annoyed and the players were probably getting fed up hearing that we had done well but hadn’t won the game.

"We needed that feeling again and I’m delighted we could get it last Friday night. I know there were bits in the game - disallowed goals and whatever - but I still think we did enough in the Partick game to win it.

"I think we had better of the chances in the game - Matty Todd’s one that hits the post as well - albeit Thistle’s second goal was onside.

"It was good to get a win again and, any time you get a win, if you can follow it up with a draw, then you’re doing okay.

"They’re forgotten about now. The thing from it is we’ve got the win eventually and we’ve backed it up with another clean sheet.

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"We need to add to this. It’s three unbeaten, we want to make it four come Saturday."

During the team's winless run, McPake spoke of spirits remaining high within the camp and, when asked whether he'd noticed if a weight had been lifted off the squad's shoulders since the outing at Firhill, he replied: "Just the headlines that pop up, it’s impossible not to see them.

"You’re part of it, we’re making the players aware of and the players knew they hadn’t won in nine. You can’t hide from that.

"I’ll be completely honest, that was something we wanted to get rid of. The longer it goes, the more it annoys you.

"It was probably the longest run without a win we’ve all been on in football. We just needed to get that monkey off our backs, and we did it, but they’ve probably been quieter after it, because we’ve had the midweek game and we’ve been travelling.

"Normally we’re going Saturday to Saturday, so you’re seeing them all week, but they’ve been fine. They’ve trained away well enough in the limited time we’ve been on the training pitch.

"Looking at Saturday’s fixtures and results, it was almost the perfect weekend for us in terms of the league table. On Tuesday, you go up and get the point and it’s the opposite of that.

"That’s why you just need to focus on yourselves. It is a mad league. Someone will beat someone you don’t expect, which happened with us on Friday night."

Bottom side Arbroath closed to within six points of eighth-placed Pars, who are two points above second bottom Inverness Caledonian Thistle, and three behind today's opponents, who sit fifth, after a superb comeback win over Raith Rovers last night.

"Every weekend for every team is an opportunity," McPake said.

"I don’t think many would have said Airdrie would go up to Tannadice and win the game (against Dundee United on Tuesday).

"But in this league you can’t call the results. I don’t think where teams are in the league matters from week to week going into a match-day. I don’t think it matters if a team is in really good form and you’re in really poor form.

"We hadn’t won in seven and we went up to Tannadice and got a draw, and arguably could have nicked that game as well.

"It’s two home games (Airdrieonians visit East End on Tuesday) and we need to get back to picking up maximum points here, and that’s what we’re looking to do on Saturday."