Caley Thistle first-team coach Barry Wilson believes it’s a three-way tussle for just two play-off positions in the Championship.
Fourth-placed Inverness head to Kirkcaldy on Saturday, one point ahead of their hosts in the battle to finish in the top four.
Second-placed Arbroath, who lost 3-0 in the Highlands last week, are two points behind leaders Kilmarnock and six points ahead of third-placed Partick Thistle, who have a game in hand.
The Glasgow Jags are just two points clear of ICT after losing 2-1 at Morton last weekend.
It, therefore, looks like Killie and Arbroath will contest the title in the final run-in, with Partick, Caley Thistle and Raith scrapping to ensure they’re not the side missing out on a chance at promotion through the play-offs after a long, hard season.
Inverness and Raith both won their first league matches in three months last Saturday.
While Billy Dodds’ side were taking care of Arbroath, a weakened Raith team won 1-0 at Queen of the South.
Former Rovers player Wilson is well aware of how big a match this is going to be at Stark’s Park.
He said: “They are all important games, but it looks like Raith, ourselves and Partick are fighting for two places. We have played Partick, so this is huge.
“Three points would go a long way to secure a play-off place. It won’t be the be all and end all, but a win would definitely put us in the driving seat.
“Like Raith are, we’re looking to follow on from a win last weekend.
“It has been a strange one, because ourselves and Raith were going very well at the start of the season then both went through a bad run at exactly the same time, then both picked up wins on Saturday just before we play one another.
“Hopefully it will be a good game and we can put on the same kind of performance as last week.
“We know it won’t be easy, but we have a good record against Raith and we hope that continues.”
Inverness have lost just five of 33 fixtures against the Fifers, with their last league defeat against them being in October 2000.
Rovers, though, have won cup contests against ICT, including this season when they were shoot-out winners in the SPFL Trust Trophy.
The team which ends up as Championship runners-up will play the winners of the third v fourth play-off. The victors will then meet the Premiership’s second-bottom side with the opportunity to gain promotion to the top-flight.
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There has been a sickness bug sweeping through the Kirkcaldy club this week and last, with Raith boss John McGlynn assessing daily who might make the trip north this weekend.
Wilson admits doing homework on their opponents has been challenging, although he insists their main focus is on their own preparation.
He added: “We have watched them in the last two or three games, there was big changes last week, positional and personnel and it is hard to take anything from that, it depends who is going to be back.
“They had a good result at Dumfries. After 11 games without a win, that might make John’s job a bit harder.
“We can’t affect that and we can look at it, but we won’t spend too much time worrying about it, because it will be about what our boys do.”
