Elgin City midfielder Mark Nicolson cannot believe his side could miss out on the end of season play-offs.
The Borough Briggs men are one point behind Montrose, who are fourth in League 2 and occupying the final play-off spot.
Manager Jim Weir’s team face bottom of the league Cowdenbeath on Saturday and must better Montrose’s result against Clyde to achieve a top four finish and keep promotion hopes alive.
Nicolson reckons the Black and Whites should have had it all wrapped up long ago, but have paid a hefty price for going 11 games without a win.
The 28-year-old said: “I still can’t believe we are in this position.
“I really thought we would have had our place in the play-offs sealed by now.
“Instead we go into the final weekend requiring favours.
“It is what it is and we just need to go all out for the win on Saturday.
“Hopefully Clyde can do us a favour and take points off Montrose.
“It is really disappointing the way the season has panned out and everyone is frustrated with the way we have been playing recently.
“We have to put that behind us and put all our efforts into ending the season with a win and hopefully that will be enough to get us into the play-off places and then we can look again.
“We are more than capable of doing that if we play like we did earlier in the season.
“That will be difficult as we have gone so long without a win, but we know we can do it.”
To make matters tougher for Elgin, Cowdenbeath will travel to Borough Briggs on Saturday knowing they must win to have any chance of avoiding the dreaded SPFL play-offs against the winners of the two-legged semi-final between Highland League champions Buckie Thistle and Lowland League rivals East Kilbride.
The Blue Brazil are three points behind Berwick Rangers and Clyde.
Nicolson added: “Cowdenbeath need to win to have any chance of staying up so they will be going all-out attack.
“It is going to be a difficult match because both teams have so much to play for.
“We need to win as well so it should be a very open and exciting game.
“We have got a great set of players and we feel confident that we can get the victory.”