Boss Alan Archibald is looking for Partick Thistle to stretch the gap between them and Kilmarnock at Rugby Park on Saturday.
The Jags are in sixth place in the Ladbrokes Premiership, two points ahead of Killie, who still have assistant Lee McCulloch in charge following the departure of manager Lee Clark to Bury last month.
Thistle have won three and drawn one of their last four league matches and Archibald is hoping his in-form side take the next step towards a top-half finish against their nearest challenger.
"It's huge," he told the club's official website.
"It's strange because when we played them at Christmas it was completely different, we were at the bottom end of the league and they weren't far above us.
"Obviously since then things have changed. They've changed the manager and we've gone on a wee run and could open up a bit of a gap if things go well on Saturday. It's another massive six-pointer."
Thistle would have been in even better shape had they not conceded a late equaliser to bottom side Inverness last week, leaving Archibald feeling like his team had lost.
However, the former Thistle defender is looking to take the positives down to Ayrshire.
He said: "We're still in good form with three wins and a draw but any time you lose a last-minute goal to cost you a win it feels like a defeat and it's hard to find the positives in it, you tend to focus on the negatives.
"But it's important that we take the positives into the Kilmarnock game now though.
"Every team will be looking at the fixtures coming up and working out what points they can take and what games they can target.
"A win on Saturday would be a big step but there's a lot of football left to play and even all three points certainly won't guarantee anything.
"Each of the sides around us know that if they put a run together they have a chance and, in the same breath, we know that if we aren't doing the business we'll slip back down the table.
"Saturday could go a long way to telling us where in the table we might finish but it is by no means anywhere near being over."
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