PERHAPS a cruel joke earlier in the season, Scunthorpe United midfielder Sam Togwell believes results at Glanford Park will now decide the Iron's fate.

The irony of such a statement will not be lost on any season ticket holder, a group who had to endure a winless run that lasted five-and-a-half months in the first half of the campaign.

Now though, the roles have been reversed, with United rebuilding their reputation on home soil.

But it has coincided with an alarming dip in form on the road, United losing their last seven and failing to score in six of those defeats.

With that in mind, the 26-year-old is adamant the improved results in North Lincolnshire – three wins and a draw in their last four matches – may yet carry his side to safety.

"The home form is massively important," Togwell told the Telegraph.

"Whether you are down the bottom or up the top of the league, you need good home form.

"That is what you build your season on – getting wins at home and then picking up points away.

"At home it is a totally different game because of the pitch.

"Teams come here knowing the surroundings now and they know it is going to be a fight here.

"But away we have struggled to create chances and score goals.

"We need to keep our unbeaten run going from now until the end of the season, that would be great, and also pick up points away.

"Those (away) are the valuable points where, at the end of the season, we might stay up by one point and a game away could be the game that has done it for us."

At this stage of the season, results of rivals often take equal importance to that of the Iron's.

But despite score-lines going against them on Tuesday night, Togwell is still confident of staying up, with experience from last season's survival now a useful tool in the Iron's current predicament.

"You do look at rivals' results because this is the business end of the season," he admitted.

"You look out to see where the likes of Crystal Palace, Middlesbrough and Sheffield United are because if they keep winning then we have to keep winning.

"We are lucky because we have been in this situation before, last season, and I think there are some people here from a couple of seasons ago.

"So it is in our minds straight away that we know how to get out of it because we did it last year.

"We believe, strongly believe, that we are good enough to stay at this level.

"What we need to show now is exactly the same we have done in the last two or three games at home.

"We have shown, and need to show, a lot of spirit. There will be a lot of blood, sweat and tears – that is going to keep us up in this league."