CITY boss Michael O'Neill has mixed feelings about City's upcoming two week break from league action, after yet more bad luck at the weekend.
Despite enjoying a lot of possession on Saturday Brechin were unable to make it count up front, and Cowdenbeath made them pay on the break midway through the second half.

That 1-0 defeat leaves Brechin seven points adrift of eighth place in the league and with plenty of time to mull things over before the six pointer at home to bottom outfit Berwick on December 1.

In the meantime City have two games away from the pressure cooker of the second division - a Forfarshire Cup clash against Dundee tomorrow (Thursday) and the increasingly important third round Scottish Cup clash with East Fife.

And, while these games will give the players something different to focus on O'Neill believes there are positives and negatives to take from the situation.

"It will possibly be a good diversion but it's always difficult to tell in all honesty which is bad - a break or constant action," he said.

"The East Fife game will be a huge game for the club. It is certainly a break from the normal routine and maybe if we get a result in that competition in a big game (it'll boost us].

"The next two games - East Fife and Berwick - are vitally important not only for our league campaign but also the club as a whole.

"We've played games like Alloa last week at home - and they are second in the league - and we were so far on top and yet not able to win.

"So there are a lot of positives to take from our recent performances but we can't get into the mindset that we're too good to go down because it is a seven point gap.

"We need to close that down because if we're not closing the gap it's getting bigger and bigger.

"We need to get closer to Queen's Park and then pick teams off above us. We need to get into a routine of winning games - back to back results are something we haven't managed to do," he added.

Meanwhile, O'Neill is hopeful that the change in competitions
will give some of the less used players a chance to stake a claim to a spot in the starting eleven.

"The Forfarshire Cup game is an opportunity for some of the lads who've not played lately to get a match. We've no reserve team so it's always difficult to play some of the squad.

"This will be a chance to get 90 minutes under their belts and hopefully stake a claim because when results are as they currently are then you need to find the right chemistry to get a winning team. Those not in the team need to show us that they deserve a place in the team.

"But it's also vitally important that the fans stick with the team. That is a huge thing for us. Our confidence may not be as high as it could be and the only way to turn that around is results, but sometimes the way to get results is for the fans to stick with the team - that could be a big factor in turning things round," he added.