Ian Burchnall is confident Notts County's midweek exploits at Dover have not taken too much out of his players heading into a crucial Bank Holiday weekend.
The Magpies made the long trip down to the south coast on Tuesday night and came away 3-0 winners at The Crabble at the third time of asking, after seeing the fixture twice postponed previously. Roadworks and diversions on the way back to the East Midlands meant that the squad and many travelling Notts supporters did not get home until around 3am on Wednesday morning. However, the result made the gruelling journey slightly more bearable for those concerned.
Burchnall paid tribute to the fans, saying: "Amazing support. Incredible that so many came down, some for the third time as well. So they should wear that as a badge of honour. We just value the support so much and when you see so many coming down, it matters a lot to people. So to have that kind of dedication, it does give you a lift, without a doubt. The support has been great all year, both home and away, and we're very grateful for that."
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As for his players, who were given a rest day after the Dover match, the head coach added: "The boys looked really sharp in training (on Friday), so I don't think it has taken too much out of us. It's not often we do it and the lads are great, they don't complain."
Notts are on the road again this weekend when they visit Aldershot Town on Saturday (3pm), followed by the return fixture against relegated Dover at Meadow Lane on Monday. While the Magpies are pushing for promotion from the National League, Aldershot are fourth from bottom but on the brink of securing safety - currently eight points clear of King's Lynn Town, who only have three games remaining.
Twenty-goal striker Kyle Wootton could return for Notts, having sat out the midweek fixture due to a slight back issue.
"We look forward to it," said Burchnall. "We're in good form. Aldershot are fighting for their lives, as were King's Lynn, as were Weymouth when we played them, so we know it's never easy, whatever the situation, and we have to be ready for that.
"But the boys seem in a good place right now, and we just want to continue with this momentum. Ten goals in the last three games is a good return and we need to keep putting away our chances - I think that's a great habit.
"It helps if you're hitting threes and fours but the most important thing is that we get the points, a good performance and keep this good feeling and momentum going forwards, hopefully towards the play-offs."
Notts are currently fourth in the table, with a seven-point cushion inside the play-off zone, and four games of the regular campaign to go. But they have not given up hope of catching third-placed Halifax, which would earn them a home semi-final. The Magpies are two points behind Solihull Moors and four adrift of Halifax as things stand.
"I think you kind of sense that the end of the season is near and we know that we're probably, I think, two wins would 100% give us the play-offs," said Burchnall. "We've made a huge step to be closer to where we want to be. We want to really push to have four good games now and then we know the excitement builds. In every league, I think people find the play-offs exciting.
"We know Stockport - you never know Wrexham might catch them - but it looks like they've run away with it. The rest of us, if we're in the play-offs it's always an exciting period. A lot of pressure on those games but that's the situation you want to be in at the end of the season - these sorts of games. I think we all look forward to that."
Burchnall added: "The focus is on playing a good game on Saturday. I don't really think too much ahead of that. If we don't play a good game and don't get a good result at the weekend, that (home semi-final) probably will be out of reach. The rest is irrelevant.
"If Halifax win all four, then we're not going to catch them, that's a fact, so we can't control everything. We can just do what we can do.
"We play Saturday, Monday now. We've got to have a really good Bank Holiday weekend and if we have that, then we'll take stock of where we're at.
"I just think for us, we'll focus on what we're doing each day to make it as good as it possibly can be. That's all we can take control of."
