James Hanson is egging on City for an Easter double and feels only back-to-back wins will do.

Hanson reckons they must beat Southend today and then Torquay on Monday to keep genuine hopes of catching the top seven.

The big striker said: “The loser today is probably out of it but we need to win both – even four points is probably not good enough for us.

“There’s no getting away from it, this is make or break.

“We want to keep it alive before we play Northampton and Rotherham.

“We’ve got to win at least six of the eight games left to have a good chance. That will get us to 72 points, which will probably get us in there.

“It’s nice we’ve got to play teams above us and can hopefully take points off them. That’s what we’ve got to do.”

As Hanson – who scored in the same fixture last year when City won 2-0 in a game that was also on Good Friday – prepares for his 50th appearance of the season, the ten-day break since the Wycombe win has not done him any harm.

Phil Parkinson is expected to stick with him and Garry Thompson up front – a partnership that Hanson believes can work well.

He set up Thompson for the only goal in the last home game and said: “I’ve been impressed every time I’ve seen him up front.

“He’s strong and a different sort of player to Nahki (Wells) but a lot of people under-estimate how quick he is. Thommo’s a fast lad and when he gets going, he’s up there with Nahki.”

Hanson, currently on ten goals, knows he should have scored more but he has also reached the same tally in assists. Parkinson has made him a more rounded player.

Hanson added: “It would have been nice to have more goals but this season I think I’ve helped the team more than in previous years.

“I can remember Brano (Guy Branston) saying after the Plymouth game, how much I’ve come on as a player compared to when he was here at the start of last season.

“If you’re not scoring, you’ve got to be thinking about what else you can be doing for the team.

“But it does play on your mind a bit because I’ve had quite a lot of chances as well. In another season I could have 30 goals, all from open play.”