Peterhead goalkeeper Graeme Smith reckons his side must reach the 40-point mark at least to escape the threat of relegation to League 2.
With five games of the regular season remaining, the Blue Toon are toiling in second-bottom place in the division on 34 points and in the relegation play-off place, five points above Stenhousemuir but three adrift of Stranraer.
Ahead of today’s trip to Hampden to take on Queen’s Park, Smith said: “It is going to go right to the wire.
“It is a strange situation, and has been all season, as we played Airdrie last week who are going for the play-offs and they have lost more games than us.
“Brechin City are third and they have lost 14 matches, whereas we have lost 13.
“We are in this position because we have drawn far too many games. We need at least 40 points to be safe from relegation and know what we need to do.
“We are more than capable of winning our next two games, against Queen’s Park this weekend and then at East Fife the following Saturday.”
Smith joined the Blue Toon in 2012 and feels this has been by far his most challenging season at Balmoor.
He added: “In my first season we finished second to Rangers and had a better defensive record than them but got pipped in the play-off final.
“We won League 2 the following season with about three or four games to go.
“We finished sixth in League 1 and consolidated our position in the division, then last season we were third and reached the Petrofac Training Cup final.
“We have progressed every year I have been at the club, but we have found it tough this season.
“We have to remember what happened to Forfar. They were close to promotion to the Championship in 2015 and they were relegated to League 2 the following year.
“It has been a tougher campaign this time but we have more than enough quality to get out of this position – but now we need to start proving that by getting positive results in these important matches.”
