TONY McMahon is chasing a play-off debut with City to bury the memories of one of his lowest nights.

McMahon has made a healthy contribution in the push for a top-six finish, having a hand in 15 of their 46 goals in League One.

The former Middlesbrough battler has locked down the right-midfield role during the lengthy absence of Filipe Morais and Paul Anderson.

As one of the biggest characters in the team, McMahon's know-how and experience will come to the fore as the season heads towards its tense finish.

But in a 12-year career that has seen action in the Premier League and even Europe, he has never appeared in the play-offs.

An Achilles injury ruled him out for his only previous opportunity three years ago with Sheffield United. So he had to look on as the Blades crashed out against Yeovil.

"I'd played most of the season but got injured (at Portsmouth) just before the semi-final," recalled McMahon.

"It was difficult to watch, especially in the second leg away when all their fans were coming on the pitch to celebrate.

"I was sitting in the crowd and couldn't do anything about it. That was very hard to take.

"But hopefully we can put it right this year, get in the play-offs and have something to cheer about ourselves."

Fifth-placed City are looking to make it four wins on the bounce tomorrow when Swindon visit Valley Parade and increase the pressure on their play-off rivals.

Like Premier League leaders Leicester, the Bantams are on a run of 1-0 victories – and McMahon believes their all-round fitness is wearing down opponents.

He said: "We've been really on it. The intensity in training is high and we've taken that into games.

"You can see we're on the front foot. We're looking to close teams down and that obviously comes from the training. The recovery is good as well and we're as fit as we've ever been as a team.

"We've ground teams down when games have been tight by keeping going and going. We are relentless in how we play. When we're all on the front foot, there aren't too many teams who can live with us. That's when we play well.

"The gaffer describes it as a proper Bradford City performance and we know exactly what that is. When everyone's on it pressing, not many teams can hold it for 90 minutes like we can."

City have won five games out of six – the best current form in the division – but remain the lowest scorers out of the top 18 teams, although they have coupled that with a defence that is only beaten by the leading duo Wigan and Burton.

McMahon said: "We're based on hard work and togetherness. That's what the gaffer has instilled and it's a good philosophy.

"We look at it one game at a time and that's what we've done all season. Yes, we've had bad games, but when that's happened we've got straight on it and looked for a reaction.

"We're in there at the minute and we'll just concentrate on what we do. We'll look to keep picking up points and hopefully we'll be moving up the table rather than down.

"Let's not get carried away but let's look up rather than down. We can catch the teams above us if we keep doing well.

"We've got six games left and we can't win them all – or can we? Let's just take it one at a time and keep going."