Ian Evatt is relishing the chance to tackle a run of big games – starting with Saturday’s visit of high-flying Ipswich.
Wanderers face third-placed Town just six points and two places behind the Tractor Boys on the back of a six-match winning home run.
And with a trip to League One leaders Sheffield Wednesday to follow ahead of a Papa Johns Trophy final against Plymouth Argyle, these are exciting times for the Whites.
“The next three games is as big a test as you can have with first, second and third in the table, which is a brilliant challenge for us to go and express ourselves,” said Evatt.
“You want to be involved in the big games for the right reasons at the end of football seasons and it looks like we’re going to be doing just that, which is great credit to the progression we’ve made.
“There’s still lots of improvements to go and we know we want and need to finish strong and again that starts on Saturday with a good performance against Ipswich.
“If you’d offered all of us this position at the start of the season - a cup final at Wembley and six points inside the top six with 10 games to go, I think we’d have all snapped your hand off.
“We know what we need to do, and we know there’s still work to be done. But it’s great to be involved in these big games. Let’s just enjoy that we’re in the mix at the business end of the season.”
Wanderers dropped a place to fifth in the table following mid-week games for some of the others in the play-off mix.
But Evatt isn’t concerned about anyone else’s fortunes as his focus remains on guiding the Whites to a productive run-in.
“It feels like we’re almost at the end. But there’s still a lot of football to be played,” added the Wanderers’ boss.
“A lot of things can happen in a quarter of a season and that’s what’s left for most.
“For us, just take care of our own business and regardless of automatics or play-offs or anything else, just finish strong and continue to progress and build momentum.
“I think any team that carries momentum towards the end of the season, it always ends up well.”
Wanderers will be strengthened for the visit of Ipswich by the return from injury of strikers Victor Adeboyejo and Cameron Jerome.
MJ Williams and George Johnston are not yet ready to feature but the squad strength continues to grow with Lloyd Isgrove adding to his game time with a goalscoring performance in a mid-week 3-2 friendly win for the B Team against a Sheffield Wednesday reserve side.
“We’ve got some firepower back available,” confirmed Evatt. “Victor is fine and trained really well today so he’s available and Cameron Jerome is back available, so there’s some real strength at the top end of the pitch.”