Thomas McHale says Elgin City can only afford to focus on their own form in their efforts to reignite a promotion play-off push.
City remain ninth in League Two, but opened up a seven-point gap on bottom side Cowdenbeath with their 1-0 win over Stirling Albion last time out.
The Black and Whites, who are four points adrift of eighth-placed Albion Rovers, are now setting their sights on catching a tightly-contested pack of teams competing for a play-off spot.
Gavin Price’s men are aiming to rack up their fifth win of the campaign when they host Forfar Athletic on Sunday.
Goalkeeper McHale says City must concentrate on improving their own consistency rather than look for favours elsewhere.
He said: “It’s so tight. Results have been going our way, but we haven’t been getting results.
“Now it’s a case of us putting it together and getting our own results.
“It’s a case of trying to keep performing well and picking up points. If we can do that we can start to look forward to trying to get into the play-off positions.
“We are not in that position at the moment, we have a lot more to think about other than that.
“Hopefully results keep going our way, but first and foremost we need to be winning games ourselves.”
“This is another big one for us.
“We are coming off the back of a win after 10 days off.
“We need to make sure we are solid at the back again, as we were against Stirling. As well as that we need to make sure we are creating chances like we have been all season.”
Black and Whites relishing challenge
Although second-placed Forfar have enjoyed a strong campaign, Gary Irvine’s men were defeated 4-3 by Stenhousemuir in their last outing on Boxing Day.
The result came on the same day as leaders Kelty Hearts suffered their first league loss of the season in a surprise 5-1 reverse to Annan Athletic.
McHale feels the Black and Whites have shown up well against the strongest teams in the division, and has no fear ahead of the visit of the Loons.
The Englishman added: “Against both Kelty and Forfar we have shown what sort of team we are.
“We were unlucky not to get the result we deserved against Kelty. Down at Forfar we dominated large parts of the game but just weren’t able to capitalise on our chances, and they were.
“If we can catch them off guard it will be a good day for us, but we have got to expect they will be at their best against us, and well prepared coming off the back of a loss.”
Elgin will be restricted to a crowd of 500 for Sunday’s match but McHale is confident his side will feel strong backing from the Borough Briggs faithful.
The 26-year-old added: “Across the majority of the country the crowds are good at this time of the year.
“For us 500 is still a good number, and everyone will be backing us and wanting us to get a result.
“Either way we want to go out there and perform, and if the full 500 are there then hopefully we will give them something to enjoy.”
Wilson to depart Black and Whites
Elgin will be without striker Jaime Wilson, who is returning to parent club Falkirk following a short loan spell.
Jaime Wilson will return to his parent Club Falkirk after his Loan spell with City.
All the best Jaime 🖤 pic.twitter.com/xkUTe9geAs
— Elgin City F.C. (@ElginCityFC) December 29, 2021
Wilson made nine outings for Price’s side, netting his only goal in a 1-1 draw against Edinburgh City.