FOUR weeks on the sidelines have done nothing to quash David Mirfin's desire to finish the season as strongly as possible.

The 19-year-old defender - known as The Ox for his size and power - has recovered from a thigh injury and made his return to action as a substitute in last weekend's 4-3 defeat at Walsall.

Town's highly-promising centre-back hopes his 11-minute appearance at the Bescot Stadium is the forerunner to a full first-team return.

And he's keen to make the most of the final third of the campaign.

"I'm ready to give it a real go," confirmed Mirfin, who has 25 starts to his name this season.

"I was really disappointed to miss last week's Reserve game through feeling off colour, because a full 90 minutes then would have had me really flying.

"It was great to get back into first-team action at Walsall, though, and it was only a shame the circumstances weren't better (Town had just gone behind for the first time in the match).

"It has seemed like a long four weeks while I've been out, so I'm really glad to be back and to be feeling fit again."

On the team's prospects, Mirfin refuses to be downhearted.

"There is definitely time to turn our season around," he said.

"We are into February now and we still haven't had our `run.'

"It's only a matter of time before we string together some wins and then we'll quickly shoot up the table.

"The most important thing we need to start to do is to keep some clean sheets.

"The gaffer keeps saying to us that the only way to win enough matches is to keep clean sheets and he's right.

"One clean sheet in 22 matches just isn't good enough and we have to put it right."