Ali McCann says he’s “feeling good” after making a return from injury on Wednesday evening.
The Preston North End midfielder had been out of action since the middle of February due to a thigh tear, but he completed 45 minutes in the midweek defeat to Swansea City.
Ali said: “I’m all good; I’m feeling good. Obviously it’s been a couple of months out injured, it’s a long time and especially with the games going on, you have to go and watch.
“I’ve worked hard to get back in and I was happy just to get on and help the team again on Wednesday.
“No matter what part of the season it is, it’s always frustrating to miss games when you’re injured because you want to help the team and you can’t do anything when you’re just sitting watching.
“To be fair to the lads, they’ve been brilliant during the time I was out. The games I was watching were quite enjoyable.
“Now that I’m back in I’m hoping I can help the lads in whatever capacity, and it was good to get on and back in the mix on Wednesday.”
Manager Ryan Lowe admitted during his pre-match press conference ahead of the weekend’s game against Blackburn Rovers that he didn’t expect Ali to play as long as 45 minutes against Swansea City.
His fitness will need to be managed and he will not be rushed into the fold, but the Northern Ireland international will be hoping he can play some part against Rovers.
Going into the weekend, North End sit just two points away from their Lancashire rivals, who currently occupy the final Play-Off spot.
Ali said: “It’s obvious how tight the table is between the six or seven teams that are involved in the Play-Off chase.
“Particularly with Blackburn being one of those teams, if we can take points off them we can leapfrog them and then you never know where you can take it.
“Hopefully we can go into that Sheffield United game looking positive. I know it’s cliché, but you just have to look at it game by game, and if we get three points on Saturday it’ll put us right in the mix again.
“There’s no reason why we can’t be in there because we’ve mixed it with these teams for the full season, particularly during the run that the lads have just been on.
“If we play to the standards that were set there, then there’s no reason why we can’t pick up maximum points going into the end of the season which would be huge for us, starting on Saturday and then going from there."