After a slow start to 2015, it seems things are starting to click for Neal Ardley's side, helped by the reinforcements brought in during January.

Without playing particularly well, we've managed to pick up seven points from the past three games, and find ourselves in the dizzying heights of 12th place - just five points of the play-offs, with a game in hand on the sides above us.

Admittedly, we've been up against less than stellar opposition. But you can only beat what's in front of you, and we've done just that, side-stepping potential obstacles like the injuries in defence and loss of key players with minimal fuss.

The real test of our play-off credentials will come in the next month or so, as the games come thick and fast, against (on paper) a higher calibre of opposition.

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Saturday's victory over Newport marked the first of eight games in 29 days.

With the next three games against side currently placed in 1st, 3rd, and 4th (and four of the next five being played away from home), there will be little opportunity to rest players.

That on-loan striker Craig Tanner wasn't even used off the bench on Saturday perhaps suggests that Ardley will try not to overwork the players in this busy period, and we'll see a bit of squad rotation, to give us the best chance of taking maximum points.

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And while the prospect of facing the high-flying trio of Burton, Shrewsbury and Luton in succession is slightly concerning, we should not forget that we took seven points off these three teams in the first half of the season.

Some of our fans are probably more worried about the trip to 24th-placed Hartlepool at the end of the month.

It was said at the start of the season that we were choosing to invest in quality first-choice players, rather than having a larger squad to choose from.

Luton Town, for example, currently have 38 senior players signed to them - we have just 27.

We've been fortunate enough to avoid any major injury crises, so the smaller squad size hasn't caused any real problems thus far, but the next 29 days will determine conclusively whether Ardley's gamble has paid off.

If we can replicate our 2014 form against the top half of the table, and make a habit of our recent success against struggling teams, then a surge up the table is far from out of the question.

The recent form of play-off place incumbents Newport and Bury means the race for seventh place is definitely on, and we're as well-placed as anyone to capitalise.