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As the League One campaign moves towards its closing stages, the scene is set for an almighty tussle with as many as six clubs battling to get into the play-offs.

Unbeaten Falkirk are odds-on favourites to lift the title, and unless they suffer a dramatic collapse, Hamilton will surely finish runners-up.

Alloa’s midweek win over Annan Athletic saw them climb above us into third, but the hopefuls are separated by just nine points, and with numerous head-to-heads in the coming weeks, the race could become even tighter.

Eighth place Stirling Albion might just be a little too far back, while Queen of the South have played a game more than the others. That said, they remain only half a dozen points out of the top four, and in this division, that can change very quickly.

We were in a strong position at Christmas, but a run of six without a win has allowed the pack to close in, something Paul Hartley always felt was a possibility given the competitive nature of the league:

“Apart from the top two, we’ve seen that all season and now it’s the business end. We know what we need to do, we’ve had a bit of a sticky patch, but so have all our rivals, and we have to get another run going.

“It’s the same every single year in this league, and that makes it exciting. It’s about embracing that, feeding off it, and winning enough games to make it into the play-offs. It’s a big one this weekend, but they all will be now.

“You can look at previous seasons and try to work out how many points you’re going to need, but this year might be different, you just don’t know. We have to focus on ourselves, do what we need to do, and not worry about the other teams.

“A lot of the players have been in this position before, they know how to get the job done. For most of the season, they’ve done just what we’ve asked of them, and we’re going to need them to keep that going for the next couple of months.”

While both Alloa and Kelty won in midweek, they were narrow victories against the bottom two clubs, and Paul thinks that could be a recurring theme for the remainder of the campaign:

“I do believe that could be the case as the nerves start to kick in, this league can throw up any kind of result. Every game is going to be tough, the majority of them will be tight, but it’s going to be about getting on a run, accumulating as many points as possible.

“It’s a thirteen game season now.”

The manager smiles as he says that; it’s a situation and a challenge he relishes:

“We’ve been over the course before, I’ve been over the course as a manager plenty of times, winning titles and promotions. I remember at Dundee it went to the last day one season, and I won the league as a player with Celtic on the final day too.

“There will be swings back and fore, but we should all be looking forward to it. I have quality players here, enough to make sure we win matches; they should all be excited by the challenge.”

The Alloa game might have come too early for Fraser Fyvie, who has now resumed full training, but assuming he suffers no reaction, the midfielder should be available for the meeting with Annan next week.

Nick Suman, injured in the Kilmarnock cup-tie, is doubtful for The Indodrill, with Balint Demus on standby to take over, while Matty Shiels and Ola Lawal return to the squad after being ineligible for Rugby Park.

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