EOIN Toal is confident this can be a productive festive schedule for Wanderers in their fight for promotion from League One.
The Whites kick-off with a pre-Christmas trip to Wycombe on Saturday, followed by home games against Rotherham United and Mansfield Town and finished off with a New Year’s Day game at Doncaster Rovers.
Traditionally, this is the period of the season where the promotion picture really starts to crystalise, and Toal is encouraged by how Wanderers have played since exiting the FA Cup at Swindon Town at the start of the month.
“Christmas is such a busy period for us, we have four games in 10 days,” the defender said. “We're going to be training extra hard every day now and hopefully we can pick up a lot of points.
“We’re in a really good place at the moment. After a heavy defeat in the FA Cup, we’ve bounced back with two really good wins.
“The team is looking really strong at the moment and hopefully we can continue that over the Christmas period.”
Wycombe’s season improved after the appointment of Mike Duff in mid-September but their reaction to a heavy defeat in the cup – a 4-0 loss at Exeter – has been met with a defeat at home against Plymouth and a draw at Burton.
Toal nevertheless has crossed paths with the Chairboys enough times to know their next game will be a tough one.
He said: “Wycombe are a really good side and I think they’re playing well at the moment. Away from home down there is never easy, so we are looking forward to this game on Saturday.”
Meanwhile, Toal’s team-mate Chris Forino is ready for selection against his former club having recovered from a facial injury sustained in a B Team game against Notts County a couple of weeks ago.
The big centre-back needed to have teeth replaced after the collision and spent hours after the match in hospital as the injury was assessed.
“I’m alright now,” he said. “It was the early hours of the morning getting out of hospital that day but I avoided stitches in my lip, which was the main thing. If you get stitches it can be horrible.
“I narrowly avoided that and I’ve had some teeth put back in since, so it’s been a bit rough.
“It was a bit of an elbow, these things happen. It’s the life of a defender.”
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