Ian Burchnall has reiterated the importance of utilising his Notts County squad to the full during the crucial closing stages of the National League campaign.
The Magpies are fifth in the table with four games of the regular season remaining. They are well-placed to secure a play-off place and could yet make a late charge for a top-three spot, which would guarantee a home semi-final.
Since suffering a 5-1 thrashing at Torquay United, Notts have responded with three straight wins, scoring 10 goals in the process. On Tuesday night, they triumphed 3-0 away to relegated Dover Athletic.
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Burchnall made four changes to the side that started last weekend's 3-1 victory over Weymouth, with the likes of 20-goal striker Kyle Wootton and on-loan Nottingham Forest midfielder Harry Arter given a breather.
Eli Sam came in for Wootton, who has been hampered by a slight back issue, while Ed Francis started in place of Arter. There were also starts for goalkeeper Sam Slocombe and defender Alex Lacey.
"I think we've got to be a little bit strategic, when you play Tuesday, Saturday, Monday, you know that not everybody is going to get through 90 in all of them, and if you can rest one or two players at the right moment and not lose the balance within the team, it's hugely important for us," said head coach Burchnall.
"What we don't need are any injuries unnecessarily and everyone has come through. Lacey had a bit of cramp but that was nothing big and he'll be fine for the weekend. So everybody came through, 3-0, that's really important."
Burchnall was pleased with the performance of his team at Dover, adding: "I thought we were quite ruthless, and I think we learned a little bit from the Weymouth game, because we were in full control of that game for 35 minutes and then when we lost a bit of focus, we found ourselves having problems. And I just thought the boys were completely focused for 90 minutes (at Dover) and that's exactly what you need to do in these games."
The Magpies boss was also happy with how his forward line operated in the absence of talisman Wootton. He said: "We talked about it before, Ruben (Rodrigues) won't be a stereotypical nine, he's going to drop a little bit, but then we needed to rotate, and sometimes Aaron (Nemane) turned into a nine and sometimes Eli (Sam) came in central and went in behind.
"So we kind of left them to be a little bit more creative. We knew Ruben would create a lot with his movements and I thought he did a great job."
Focus now turns to Saturday's trip to Aldershot Town, who sit fourth from bottom, though eight points clear of the relegation zone
Notts, meanwhile, have a seven-point cushion inside the play-off zone, while are now only four points adrift of third-placed Halifax.
Asked what is still possible for his side, Burchnall replied: "It's still possible that we can take 12 points, because there are four more games, and all we have to focus on is the next game, and that's away to Aldershot, and that's not going to be easy. I don't think the club has a brilliant record there, so we've got to put that right on Saturday, and then we've got Dover and then two more after that. So 12 points is possible, we can't control what the other teams are going to do. We've just got to do our best in every game and then we'll see where we finish.
"It feels good to be in that fifth position and we're chasing them down but it doesn't matter. It's only going to matter in four games' time."
