BILLY Clarke wants City to sign off the season with a smile on their face.

With the play-offs now beyond reach, pride is the only spur for the remaining three games – starting with tonight’s rearranged trip to Scunthorpe.

But Clarke sees no reason to approach the closing stages of a memorable campaign feeling too downbeat.

“We’ve got to go out and enjoy it,” said the striker, whose equaliser at Sheffield United on Saturday ended City’s three-game losing streak.

“We’re effectively playing for pride but these are still good games to be involved in.

“We’ll bring a lot of fans to Scunthorpe, like we did at the weekend, and then we’ve got Barnsley at home on Saturday. That will be a good game for us as well.

“You’re playing two teams who are quite nearby so we know the atmosphere will be good. If you can’t get yourself up for games like that, then there’s something wrong.”

Clarke’s late strike stopped the rot at Bramall Lane and he felt City were good value for the draw after picking themselves up from the shock of the 6-0 home thrashing by Bristol City.

He added: “It was a bit of a no-lose situation after the drubbing last week and I thought we played well.

“When you don’t get results, the pressure just keeps on building. You start trying too hard and when that happens, you’re not at your best.

“It helped that Sheffield United was a big fixture for us. If it had been Gillingham away after Bristol City, it would have been harder but we were always looking forward to playing at Bramall Lane.

“We had to dig in a couple of times and take gambles but it paid off. We kept going and I felt we would score.

“It was just a matter of time and fortunately for me, I was lucky enough to get the goal.”

Clarke is now up to 12 for the season – ten of them since November 29 – to overtake James Hanson as the club’s leading marksman.

“It’s always nice to be top scorer,” he said. “I’ve worked hard and I think it’s paid off with my performances over the last six weeks.

“I feel I’ve been on top of my game.

“I know results haven’t gone our way, but even against Preston when we were down to ten men and I played out of position, I thought it went quite well personally.

“We’d gone three games without scoring but we had been creating chances. It would have been worse if we’d not done that.

“Saturday was pretty much a half chance but I managed to bobble it into the bottom corner.”