JAMES MCPAKE has described derby matches as "special" occasions but insists his players need to "play the game" in a "relaxed" manner.

Dunfermline travel to Fife rivals Raith Rovers this afternoon for the final scheduled Championship meeting of the season seeking to bounce back from Tuesday's loss to Airdrieonians.

They're also looking for a first win over the Kirkcaldy club this season, having lost all three league clashes, and a Scottish Cup tie, since a Viaplay Cup group stage draw at Stark's Park in July, which did see the Pars win a penalty shoot-out and a bonus point.

Their last venture along the A92 saw them concede in the final minute of the match, and each league encounter has ended in a single goal defeat.

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"If anybody is due anything, it’s the fans. They want to see a derby win," the manager commented.

"For us, it’s a game we want to go there and be competitive in, and play our way. The squad is better now and it’s stronger, and we’re looking forward to it.

"The derby games have been decent enough, apart from the the Scottish Cup tie. That was a great day for them. We were poor - we got bullied on the day.

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"It’s a cliché, but with everything that comes with it – the atmosphere, the build-up and everything else – form can go out the window. Performances can go out the window as well. You can be great but if you don’t put the ball in the back of the net it doesn’t matter, like the game there the last time - we got hit by a sucker punch in the last minute and lost the game. Nobody really remembers how well you’ve performed.

"They’re special games, they’re good games, but I think it’s important that us and the players take a step back from that. Of course, there’s a different build-up and a different feel, but you still need to be relaxed and go and play the game.

"In the game here in the cup, we were far too relaxed, too stand-offish. We never laid a glove on them that day, and that game disappoints me the most out of them all. You can lose a last-minute goal and you’re devastated, and you think you should have won the game, but the manner of performance hurts us. In the next game, we were a bit better but we’re still putting that right because that can’t happen again, in any game let alone a derby."

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Having played in Edinburgh, Dundee and Midlands derbies during his playing career, with teams such as Hibernian, Dundee and Coventry City, McPake is all too aware of the need to keep a calm head on the field during such occasions.

"A lot of fans and people will not want to hear it. Some will say it doesn’t matter and you just go out and kick everything that moves," he continued.

"I’ve watched enough games when I was younger and you think that’s right but when you’ve been in them, played in them, managed in them, it’s different.

"In England, it was Coventry-Leicester and then Hibs-Hearts, Dundee-Dundee United as player, and then Dundee-Dundee United as a manager, and Falkirk-us and us-Raith. I’ve got a fair bit of experience in them and I’ve seen some managers go into these games and you have to be peeled off the ceiling.

"At the end of the day, you need to go onto the pitch and you need to take care of the ball and work as hard as you can and be disciplined. I think that’s the problem when you’re too fired up. Discipline goes out the window and you’re not thinking straight."

McPake added that Chris Kane, who missed Tuesday's defeat, and Miles Welch-Hayes, who was on the end of a heavy challenge during that game, would be assessed ahead of today's match.