Key issues with Scottish Championship under Friday night lights

Inverness and Partick Thistle meet again in the Highlands in Friday's live BBC Scotland game

With the finish line in sight, the Scottish Championship title race now appears to be a two-way fight while a clutch of others battle for play-off places.

At the bottom end of the table, three sides are in danger of the drop.

With three matches to come on Friday, BBC Scotland breaks down the state of play.

• Potential Championship title decider live on BBC

Queen's Park have chance to nail down first

Enjoying a four-point lead at the top, Queen's Park can stretch their advantage by beating Arbroath, while closest challengers Dundee can only look on.

Dundee, relegated from the Premiership last season, do not have a fixture until 1 April and will not play the game in hand with Raith Rovers they are about to incur until 11 April.

Queen's Park are bidding to return to the top tier for the first time since 1958 and seal a third successive promotion.

A powerhouse in the pioneering days of Scottish football, the club ended their amateur status in 2019 and are in the process of moving to a new stadium in the shadow of their former home at Hampden.

While Lesser Hampden is being renovated, Owen Coyle's side are playing at Stenhousemuir's Ochilview.

Queen's Park will play their final regular season fixture against Dundee on 5 May - a potential title decider.

But could there be a kingmaker before then? Arbroath, Hamilton, Morton and Raith Rovers all play both Queen's Park and Dundee before the end of the season.

Whoever finishes top goes up automatically with the runners-up entering the play-offs at the semi-final stage.

The battle for third and fourth

The first round of Premiership play-offs will pit the third-placed team up against the side in fourth.

Currently Ayr United and Partick Thistle occupy those spots but Morton are just two points off Thistle and Raith Rovers, with a game in hand, are five points further back.

Of that group, only Partick are in action this weekend - visiting Inverness Caledonian Thistle in Friday's live BBC Scotland match.

Scottish Cup semi-finalists Caley Thistle are two points behind Rovers and also have a game in hand on the others.

Partick, under new manager Kris Doolan, appear to have the momentum with three wins and three draws in their past six games while Ayr, who were top of the pile in December, have the league's top scorer, Dipo Akinyemi. Those two face off on 15 April.

Drop fears for trio

Just one point covers Arbroath, Hamilton and Cove Rangers at the bottom.

Cove, who have picked up one point from their past six matches, are away to Ayr as Arbroath try to upset the odds against Queen's Park.

Arbroath, who were surprise high-flyers last term, play all of the promotion chasers but also take on Cove and Hamilton before the play-offs begin. Hamilton and Cove meet next month.

Whoever finishes bottom will find themselves in League 1, with the ninth-placed side scrapping for survival via the play-offs.

There are going to be a lot of frayed Friday night nerves over the next few weeks.