Jim O'Brien says Notts County will head into their weekend's match against Torquay at Plainmoor "confident" as they continue their push for National League promotion.
The Magpies are unbeaten in their last four games, with the most recent being a 3-0 win at Southend. Ruben Rodrigues bagged a hat-trick as Notts reinforced their position in the top-six.
With eight games left to play until the season concludes, the midfielder is hopeful of taking part in the remaining encounters. O'Brien previously missed out on 13 matches, on his return to full fitness.
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"I've built up my fitness," the Scotsman told Notts club media. "I've no problems with the way things are and the lads are doing well. You've just got to respect it and train hard.
"It's a bit menace on the pitch for me now, you can do so much training but the match day is what's important and having 25 minutes to half an hour, I think from that view is building up nicely."
Since then, O'Brien has featured 53 minutes in the last two games against Chesterfield and Southend. But had previously missed out due to illness. "That was the most frustrating thing for me as well," he added. "There was no game for me to look forward to and I was just getting back training and there was maybe just five or six in training.
"And you want competitiveness and stuff so sometimes it's difficult to get that when you're low on numbers. But the squad is looking really healthy and I think we're in a good place."
Looking ahead to another National League encounter, the midfielder says togetherness within the squad is more present than ever.
He continued: "The good thing about the squad here is a lot of the lads who are from further afield, they all live in Nottingham so I think they go out and have a coffee and have a chat, and they all live in the same sort of area, in apartments.
"So they're really tight and I think with younger lads who are away from home that's actually really important. Everyone's just fighting for each other.
"I think we'll go there [Torquay] and look to put a stamp on the game as we always do. We know it's going to be really difficult. We know it's going to be a bit scrappy at times, we know they'll put it on us and we'll have to defend well. If we can get into the way we play, I'm confident we can get what we need."
Another win would boost Ian Burchnall's chances of securing the play-offs, even further. But the experienced Notts man knows there is only one secret to achieving that success. "It's that old cliche, one game at a time," he revealed.
"Just keep going the way we're going. The way we train is really high tempo and it's based around our fitness and stuff, and I think that'll come into play towards the back end in the run in. Keep going the way we're going, there's good competition for places. If someone comes out, someone else is ready."
