Brechin's late show against Cowdenbeath last weekend moved them to within one point of the play-offs with four games left to play.

And with the momentum firmly behind them the squad are looking good in their fight to make the top four.

However, there are still three clashes against top three opposition and a further clash with fellow play-off hopefuls Peterhead between now and the last day of the season and O'Neill is under no illusion that the club will have to fight hard to secure their berth - starting with Airdrie United on Saturday.

What's more, with Airdrie's slim hopes of automatic promotion likely to come to an end if they fail to win, O'Neill is anticipating an even tougher match than would otherwise be the case.

"We've beaten Airdrie twice this season and so we know we're capable of it. Although they still have a slim chance of automatic promotion I think deep down they know they've not really got much chance of that.

"But they've been in second for a long time now and I'm sure they aren't going to give up on their hopes easily. They've still got a lot to play for though and, if they have to go through the play-offs (manager] Kenny Black will want some momentum behind them," he added.

Victory over Airdrie would also give City a slight mental boost if the two squads were to meet in the play-offs, but O'Neill is more concerned with securing a spot first, and would rather the club were in the mix at the end regardless of how well they play to get there.

"We need the points to get there first. Regardless of how we may play we've a tough four games to finish first. We play the top three and Peterhead to finish so you couldn't really get any tougher a climax," he said.

"We haven't managed to beat Ross County yet but they come to us on the last game of the season and the league may be won then which may work in our favour.

"But we need a minimum of seven points, possibly nine and maybe even more to get in there at the end of the season," he added.

The City boss is also hoping the fans can help to lift the club during the run in and has called for even stronger support from the faithful in the final few games.

He also hopes that the minority of nay-sayers also throw their support behind the team to give a united front.

"We'll be starting with youngsters up front and I hope our supporters are patient with the lads," he continued.

"Michael Paton in particular has done excellently this season. In the last couple of weeks though he's maybe not been at his best but he's an excellent lad and a good find for us. I hope the crowd remember to be patient though because at least one or two times there have been grumbles from one or two fans and that isn't going to help the lads," he added.

Meanwhile, Michael was pleased with the result against Cowdenbeath at the weekend.

"It wasn't our best performance but we scored two good goals and managed to close the gap down on the play-offs to one point with four games to go.

"The results elsewhere went well too and we have recovered well from our disappointing result at home to Queens Park a couple of weeks back.

"Cowdenbeath is always a hard place to go to anyway and I know it isn't a ground that the players look forward to particularly.

"And Cowdenbeath were fighting for their lives so the win was all the more pleasing. It was always going to be difficult so it was a good win and the lads who popped up with goals had an excellent match," he added.