Ryan Kendall is hungry to get back among the goals for Gainsborough Trinity and do his bit to keep the Blues in the play-off chase in Blue Square Bet North.

Trinity's top scorer has netted 11 times so far this season, but has been out of contention for the last four weeks with a thigh strain.

However, after training this week, the striker is hoping to be available for the visit of league leaders Hyde on Saturday at the start or what Kendall considers a crucial period for the club.

"I'm pleased to be getting back, but whether I play on Saturday is down to the manager," said Kendall.

"The lads have done well up front and got some goals, so I cannot expect to walk straight back in.

"I'll be trying hard in training to make sure that I stand a chance of being selected.

"I'm pretty close fitness-wise. After some good training this week hopefully I'll be in good shape for the Hyde game.

"I injured my right thigh. I thought it was all right and came back when I shouldn't have really.

"It's calmed down now and the physio has gone well.

"It would be good to get back involved as January is a crucial time. It is around this time of the year those gaps between the play-offs and the rest of the chasing pack start to emerge.

"Hopefully we can keep ourselves in this mix and not fall away.

"We all hope that with the way things are going we should be in the top six.

"If we don't make that top six now it will be a bit of a letdown. We have some big games coming up which play a part of that and taking on Hyde on Saturday will be a hard task."

If Kendall is selected on Saturday he is likely to partner Paul Connor up front.

Connor has impressed since he joined the club from Mansfield, and Kendall believes the pair could be a potent threat in front of goal.

"I played with Paul Connor for a couple of matches before I hurt my thigh again and it was really good," said Kendall.

"He set up my goal against Corby and was really good at getting me in the game.

"I think we can form a really good partnership that can pay off towards the end of the season."

Talking about Trinity in the play-offs is a stark contrast to the situation Kendall found himself in with the Blues last season.

Gainsborough appeared to be making all the right signings in the pre-season prior to their last campaign, but by this time last year they were in a relegation dog fight.

Kendall is delighted with the turnaround in fortunes, but always believed it was possible.

"Last season people were talking about whether we would survive the drop," said Kendall.

"Credit to the chairman (Peter Swann) and the new manager (Steve Housham) for where we are. The gaffer has got us playing really well, so he deserves a lot of appreciation for that.

"We had a good team last year, but it just was not happening and the manager (Brian Little) was not getting the best out of us."