PHIL Parkinson is using City's break in Portugal to warn them that any slacking off will not be tolerated.

The squad flew out to Faro early yesterday morning with the boss still fuming about frittering away another winning position against Fleetwood.

Saturday's 2-2 draw at Valley Parade – when the visitors hit back with two goals in the closing minutes – leaves City still five points adrift of the play-offs with ten games left.

With the players away together until Wednesday, Parkinson intends to ram home the point about how vital a strong run-in will be.

"I've got a chance now to have a good think and sit down with the players because there's absolutely no way I'm prepared to let this season just drift into nothing," he said.

"We've had a lot of plaudits this season and now there are ten games to go. Reputations can be made or broken in that time.

"I've seen players before at clubs do very little before the last ten games then come good and win player of the year. That's the kind of period we are in.

"I've also seen it the other way round. A player can do superbly well then peter out and that affects his contract or standing in the game.

"As a management team, we're not prepared to let that happen. That's why Saturday was so frustrating. We know we've got the quality – and some of the football we played was excellent – but we need more than we showed."

City produced a storming finish in 2013 to come from ten points behind in the final nine games to reach the League Two play-offs on their way to promotion. Parkinson has not ruled out a repeat – but underlined how much effort will be involved.

"We can use the experience of what we did but it doesn't mean naturally it's going to happen again," he said.

"There was a lot of hard work in that period and a lot of determination within the group. That's what we've got to remember.

"So many people keep saying to me 'we've done it before, it'll happen again'. No, it will only do that if we've got a whole squad who are absolutely determined to make that happen.

"That applies for every minute of every game. We have got a different type of player this year but we've got to have the same mentality in the team to see games through."

This is City's first free midweek since the beginning of February and Parkinson admitted the break has come at the right time. They return for back-to-back home games against Oldham and Chesterfield, the two sides currently either side of them in the table.

He said: "I do think we need it. We've tried everything since (the FA Cup defeat) last Monday and gave the players two days off.

"We had a good chat with them and I was so pleased with the way we started the game. The attitude and confidence was really good.

"We got our key players like Billy Clarke and Yeatesy (Mark Yeates) on the ball and did everything – for 80 minutes. Then we stopped.

"With so much experience as a player and manager, you know a game's not won. But obviously you need more contribution when you make the changes. Ultimately I take the blame for that."