Dumbarton Manager Jim Duffy knows that the coming week will go a long way to determining his side's fate for the remainder of the season.

Sons' seven game unbeaten run came to an end with a 4-1 loss against Raith Rovers at Stark's Park on Saturday and they now head into a period of three home games in a week, with two of the fixtures being against the division’s bottom two sides.

Basement side Stenhousemuir, Airdrieonians and second from bottom Brechin City are all set to travel to The Rock and Duffy acknowledges the fact his side could be dragged further into a relegation battle.

He said: “If we get a good return of points in these matches then you can make the final four games of the season a little bit more relaxing and look up the way.

“But it can easily go the other way and you’re dragged right into it and it makes for a very nervy last four games. We’ll give it everything we’ve got this week but we know Stenny are fighting for their life and are a very good side.”

Sons didn’t show up against Raith on Saturday and found themselves 3-1 down at the break before the Kirkcaldy side eventually ran out 4-1 winners.

Read more: Dumbarton's unbeaten run ends with 4-1 defeat at Raith Rovers

Duffy was left frustrated after his side gifted goals to the hosts, but admitted he had no complains over the end result.

He said: “We made a couple of basic errors and found ourselves chasing the game, and you don’t want to be doing that against a side who are very good going forward and score a lot of goals.

“We were beaten by the better team, and didn’t find ourselves performing anywhere near the level than we have been.

“If we had hung on to half-time at 2-1 it gives you a chance, but we made an error and lost a goal right on half-time.

“That allowed Raith to come out in the second-half and control the game without having to rush things.

“We’re not going to throw everything away because we’ve had one bad performance in seven.

“We want to get back to the performance level we have shown recently, and if we do, we are confident we can get more good results.”