CIARON Brown says Oxford United must keep believing they can reach the Sky Bet League One play-offs.

Three defeats in the space of a week have given the U’s a mountain to climb in their bid for a third successive top-six finish.

United are now four points shy of the play-off places, with Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland boasting a game in hand in fifth and sixth respectively.

READ MORE: Ciaron Brown felt impact of sold-out Kassam Stadium

The last three results were hugely frustrating for the U’s, but Brown insists the season is not over.

The defender said: “We can’t think like that, but we also hope the fans don’t think like that either.

“We’ll keep fighting to the very end and as much as we need each other, we also need the fans to be on our side and believe.

“We just need to speak it into existence that we can do it.

“The pressure’s on the other teams. I think we still have a chance.”

United were fifth in League One before visiting Plymouth Argyle on April 2, but that defeat and the losses to Morecambe and Sunderland have seen them drop to eighth.

For Brown, the mentality stays the same going into the last four games, even though the U’s are now reliant on teams above them slipping up.

The 24-year-old said: “We’ve made it hard, but we’ve not made it impossible.

“We go into these last four games exactly how we’ve gone into the last three, trying to win all four.

“It can be done, and we know we can do it. We’ll just see what it is at the end of the season.”