Past experience tells Bristol City's Dele Adebola that a surprise package could yet steal a place in the Coca-Cola Championship play-offs in May.

And the veteran target-man, now in his 17th season as a professional, has a sneaking suspicion that club might just be Bristol City.

Something of a specialist when it comes to trial by play-off in English football's second tier, Adebola has seen enough to know that virtually nothing can be ruled out in a league as unpredictable as the Championship.

On the face of it, City face a mountainous task. Still 10 points adrift of the sixth-placed club with games fast running out, they must establish the consistency which has so far eluded them this season if they are to close the gap.

But Adebola believes in the power of momentum and insists such a task isn't beyond Gary Johnson's team.

Encouraged by a run of three wins and a draw in the last four games, he points to a fixture list which pits the Robins against relegation-threatened opposition over the next few weeks.

Out-of-sorts Barnsley visit Ashton Gate today, bottom-of-the-table Charlton come to town on Tuesday and City then head to lowly Norwich before taking on crisis club Southampton and then Doncaster Rovers.

"We've played most of the big boys and we now have these games against teams below us in the table," said Adebola.

"This is a crucial time for us. If we can take advantage in these next five games and pick up points, we could find ourselves just outside the play-offs before we come up against the likes of Birmingham and Reading again."

Recalling last season and citing the example of Neil Warnock's Crystal Palace, Adebola insists: "There always seems to be one club which comes from nowhere to get into the play-offs.

"Just look at what Crystal Palace did. They were in the bottom four in November, but put together a fantastic run which saw them finish fifth in the end.

"They came close to knocking us out in the play-off semi-final and could have gone all the way. It just shows what can be achieved if a team gets on a role.

"We're unbeaten in four games and we feel we're gaining momentum at just the right time."

He added: "For whatever reason, I've always tended to come on strong and get better in the second half of the season and that's what we need to do as a team in the remaining games."

Barnsley may have lost their last four games including their 2-1 defeat at home to Ipswich in midweek, but Adebola is not fooled.

"They'll have a gameplan to try and stop us and they'll come here and make things difficult," said Adebola.

"But saying that, I think it will be a different kind of game to the one we played up there earlier in the season. That day, both sides cancelled each other out and it ended 0-0. I can't see that happening this time.

Adebola could renew his partnership with Stern John. Leading scorer Nicky Maynard is struggling to shake off a dead leg sustained during Tuesday's 2-0 win at Plymouth and John and Slovakian import Peter Styvar are both on standby.

But Marvin Elliott is sidelined by injury and manager Johnson may recall Michael McIndoe to the starting line-up and revert to a four-man midfield.