THIS is the time of the season when you see who your winners are.

With six games to go, it all comes down to bottle.

The prize is there in front of you to strive for – but you've got to be so focused.

I was lucky enough to win five promotions in my career and I learned that when it gets to this stage, there can be no distractions.

I know it's an old cliche but the key is to take one game at a time. The moment you start looking too far ahead, things can unravel.

When I was going for promotion with Barnsley, we got turned over by Wolves. Their manager Mark McGhee said straight afterwards: "That's it, only five more wins required."

They probably had about a dozen games. Now that's the worst thing to say because you never take anything for granted. After that, we kicked on and Wolves hit a brick wall.

But this is when your experienced players come to the fore; lads who have been in the position before can guide the younger ones through.

For the likes of Reece Burke and Josh Cullen, this will be new territory, so you'll need the older heads to help them along.

Every team is as good as their senior players. They've got to be the role models and lead by example.

Go back to the Paul Jewell days at City when you had Wayne Jacobs, David Wetherall, Peter Beagrie in there – real leaders who are prepared to take the bull by the horns.

The good thing about the team right now is that they've got the momentum going.

You saw that when we went up via the play-offs against Northampton. We sneaked into the bottom spot but because there was that momentum, it carried on right through the Wembley final.

You could see how focused and determined the players were in that run-in – and they've got to show those qualities again.

The competition for places is great. Phil's brought in Tom Thorpe, who can play holding midfielder as well as centre half, but the biggest area for me is up front.

There's Wes Thomas, James Hanson, Steve Davies pushing the front two in the team at the minute.

I've always said you can never have enough strikers. They can bust a gut for 60 minutes and then you can throw another two on.

Look at Steve Davies, who has scored five goals coming off the bench.

You've got Jamie Proctor, who is the man of the moment, and let's not forget James Hanson, another lethal weapon.

This is probably the strongest City squad in a long time and there are a lot of good footballers in there.

People raised their eyebrows months ago when I tipped them to finish in the play-offs – but it is there for them.

Other teams are also going well like Millwall and Barnsley, so that keeps everyone on their toes.

But I think there's enough in that dressing room to keep putting in a good, solid, professional performance.

This is the time when the winners show their mettle and you've seen that in this run of wins.

You don't win things in October or November. It's now when it counts.

In all my years as a player, this was my favourite part of the season – the business end.

I can see enough quality, experience and know-how to certainly get into the play-offs. It's there for them, so don't be afraid.

* John Hendrie was talking to Simon Parker