Preston North End's French centre-half Youl Mawene is back in action and determined to help the Lilywhites bring their season to a close in style.
The North End No.5 returned to the fold on Saturday after missing the last four matches through injury and he finds the Club desperate to get the points required to guarantee Championship safety.
"I'm just happy to give a hand and help, everyone has got to pull together at the minute, whether you are on the bench or in the stand," Mawene said following his return.
"We are in a difficult position, as it proved to be, we should have picked up points when we had the chance and now we are at the business end of the season and we are going to have a certain nervousness about ourselves. We are under pressure at the minute and the job is still far from being done and we are going to have to keep grinding together."
North End still lie frustrating two points away from the 52 point mark Darren Ferguson believes will ensure safety and Frenchman remains focused on the job in hand: "We are focused. We are looking at it with open eyes, we had a chance to pick up points and make sure that we had a good end of the season and have the ability to express ourselves but that is not the case.
"We have got massive pressure on our shoulders so we have got to deal with it and it proved to be the case on Saturday, it was a very tight game and anything can happen, if you concede an early goal you have got to chase the game you have got to try and pass and play, you've got to do that under tremendous pressure. It's not the pressure we want to be under but we have to deal with it and for the second half it was a bit better, it couldn't be a lot worse, we managed to grind it back in.
"We have to make sure we pull together and make sure we get over that white line and remain in this league for next season and build on that."
North End have not lost at home since early February but a combination of consecutive draws and a less than perfect playing surface have made for some pretty uninspiring games at Deepdale in recent weeks and Mawene believes that the pressure may also be playing its part on North End's home form.
"These are tough games, this is a tough division but at this time of the season you want to have a certain amount of points to give you a little bit more confidence and to be a bit more comfortable. But it's not the case, these games are the worst kind for this time of the season. We have to remain focused and make sure that we don't fold under pressure.
"If we play these games where there is not much to win or lose then you can have a good game and put the ball on the floor knowing that if you make a few mistakes it won't really harm your season. We are not in that position just yet, we are in a position where if we try and bring it down and pass the ball and it is not coming off we can end up conceding goals and that can still have consequences on the season, for the whole club, the people involved, for the fans, for a lot of things.
"It's not ideal but we are going to have to be strong mentally and grind through those games."
Preston boss Darren Ferguson has hinted that Mawene may be rested from Easter Monday's trip to Selhurst Park to tackle Crystal Palace but the defender is ready and waiting should he be called upon.
"We know that we are going to need everyone, it's as simple as that," he said.
"Whether you are in the stands or on the bench, you have got to feel a part of it because there will be consequences if we do get dragged down into it. We have to pull together, we are going to need everyone until the end of the season, Wallace is going to be suspended for two games and there will be more twists and turns, it could boil down to any one thing.
"Last season we got into the Play-Offs with Carter clearing off the line against QPR and he hadn't really played that much before that game, so that shows that we need everyone and we have got to stick together."
Mawene saw Watford grab a goal at Deepdale on Saturday and the Frenchman admits that if it hadn't been for another fine save from Andy Lonergan the gave could have been lost.
Youl was quick to praise the keeper: "He has been terrific this year, he has got us out of jail many times. It was a superb save on Saturday and at the time we were under the kosh a little, there wasn't much in the game but you got the feeling that the next one to score would go on to win the game. We have got give thanks to Andy for pulling that off, he has played his part so other players will have to step up and play their part."
As another gruelling season draws to a close, Mawene is nursing a number of strains, bumps and bruises but the warrior in him refuses to give in, even if he has to patch himself back together for the next game.
He said: "I feel a bit broken to be honest. Sometimes you train hard and you feel that you are coming close to full fitness but the Championship is a tough league, it's a horrible league and Saturday proved to be a hard game. I've got a lot of recovery to do to get myself ready for the next game.
"My knee is fine, it's more the other leg, it was very stiff after the game. It's more about picking ourselves up mentally, because when you feel good mentally the other pains get a little bit easier."
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