JORDY Hiwula reckons competition has stepped up a gear with play-off places up for grabs.

Hiwula will finish the League One season as City’s top scorer – but that is no guarantee of a spot in next week’s semi-finals.

So he intends to use Sunday’s final-day trip to Rochdale to press his claims for involvement when the real battle begins again on Thursday night.

Hiwula said: “I’ve noticed that all the strikers have been working even harder towards the end of the season. Everyone wants to be in the team for the play-offs.

“We know we’ve all got to work hard whether we’re in the team or not or coming on for ten minutes. We all need to contribute and I feel that all the boys have been doing that.”

Sunday’s clash at Spotland may mean more for the hosts, who have to win to stand a chance of gate-crashing the top six.

But Hiwula says City have their own agenda as they look to round off a campaign that has seen only seven defeats.

He added: “If we win we’ll beat our points tally from last season. That’s in the back of the players’ minds as well.

“We’ve played well all season, especially at home, and we want to keep it going.

“We’ve been very consistent and stayed in the top six, which is a big achievement given the way the league is, and we want to finish well to go into the play-offs.”

Hiwula has netted 12 goals for City, his best tally as a pro, and feels his season-long loan from Huddersfield has been a personal success.

“I’ve played in a variety of positions, up front, as a ten and out wide, and I feel like I’ve done well.

“I think I’ve improved a lot. The main thing for me was to play as much as possible and I’ve done that.

“We’ve still got three more games – and the possibility of four – and I still feel that I can contribute in those.”

Meanwhile, Matt Kilgallon and Alex Gilliead have come back into the reckoning to further boost McCall’s play-off options.

Assistant boss Kenny Black confirmed: “They’ve trained really well and we’ve managed to get some bounce games in them.

“They are enthusiastic about being involved again.”