City take on near neighbours Forfar Athletic at Station Park tomorrow as they look to build on their impressive victory against Stranraer last week-end. The home side meanwhile, will be looking to bounce back from their 5-0 hammering against Ayr at Somerset.

Brechin are currently sitting in 4th place but are 4 points adrift of 3rd placed Ayr, so all three points is desperately needed in order to keep the pressure on the Somerset Park side. Forfar, meanwhile, have become detached at the bottom of the table after a string of heavy defeats and will be looking to bounce back with several first team players making a return from injury.

But as many supporters already know, form goes completely out of the window in local derbies and City will undoubtedly have to work hard if they are to leave Station Park with a positive result.

Michael O'Neill was delighted with the way the players applied themselves last week-end, he said: "I was delighted with the result. I thought we played well in what was always going to be a difficult fixture, got ourselves ahead in the game early on and never really looked back. In the second half, with Stranraer down to 10 men, we handled things well, scored two good goals and perhaps we could have scored a few more."

O'Neill was also pleased with the performance of Darren Smith, he said: "Darren connects well for us this season and I think his level of consistency and performance has been superb. The thing that was missing from his game was goals and he's now scored in the last two games, so hopefully he can continue to add to that as he has been a hugely important player for us this season."

The game against Stranraer also saw the welcome return of Iain Russell and Steven Ferguson from injury. Michael said: "It's good to have Iain back. It has taken him quite a length of time to get a run and he has done well in the last two or three games when he has started. I'm just delighted for him to get off the mark with two goals because I feel he tends to score goals in patches. Hopefully he has hit a bit of a purple patch now and he can add to the goal tally.

"I'm also delighted to have Fergie back. We lost him after only five minutes of the opening game of the season and it is a blow to lose your captain that early on. It was always a bit of a risk playing him on Saturday, gievn that he probably hasn't had the match fitness and the amount of games we would have really liked. It was a risk worth taking and I thought he was excellent for us. He just gives our midfield a bit more bite and a bit more leadership."

Looking ahead to the local derby against Forfar tomorrow, Michael said: "It is important that we go to Forfar and try to pick up all three points. They are having a difficult time but, like any derby game, it's going to be hugely competitive. I think our league positions go out the window when you have two rivals playing each other. However, it is vital that we win at Forfar to get the full benefit of last Saturday's result."

City are still without the injured Grant Johnson. O'Neill stated: "Grant is still out and we have to make sure he is 100% before he comes back." Ross Archibald is the only other doubt for the reds.

The injury crisis at Forfar meanwhile, is starting to clear up but they are still without a considerable number of first team players. Skipper Alan Rattray and on loan centre back Mark Allison have both returned from injury while Dave King should also be available. However, Ritchie Montgomery remains on the long term injury list, and is joined by David Dunn who will remain on the sidelines for the next month at least. Gavin Beith and David Keogh were both suffering from virus’ midweek, and Barry Donald was not able to train fully.

Loons boss George Shaw is hoping to gain revenge after City's 4-2 win over the Station Park side earlier in the season. He told Forfar's official website: "The supporters make derby games feel different. The local boys like Paul Tosh and Kevin Webster know what it’s all about being locals. It was a good atmosphere at the last game, and quite entertaining for the neutral. It was disappointing not to get anything out of the game, but if we can get a similar performance tomorrow we can hopefully get our rewards this time round.”