WITH his recent two-match ban now over, Darel Russell says he's raring to go and hopes he's in Bryan Gunn's thoughts ahead of the Easter weekend.

The City midfielder was handed the punishment after being shown two yellow cards during Norwich's clash with Plymouth last month. Speaking to canaries.co.uk, Russell said he was glad to put the ban behind him.

"It's been a long time, and it's nice to be available now and have a chance at getting back in the fold," he said. "The sending-off was disappointing, so it's good to be back now. It's been a long time out, I've made sure I've kept myself in as best shape as possible and I'm feeling in good shape. Hopefully if I get selected over this coming weekend I'll get the chance to show that."

With six precious points up for grabs this weekend, the 28-year-old added the Canaries had to put their recent defeat against Sheffield Wednesday behind them: "Obviously it was a disappointing result at the weekend which would have put us in a really great position but we can't look back now.

"We just have to look ahead to the five games we've got left. This is a really important weekend because it can mean the difference between opening up a gap or pushing you behind a little way so it's going to be an interesting few days. Over the 50-points mark is what we've got to be looking forward to and I think three wins would really set us in a good position to keep us in the Championship.

"We've got little time to recover ahead of Monday's game so it's a tough time but everybody's looking forward to it, I certainly am. To an extent I've been rested for a while now and I'm fit and fighting. Having two games so close together is extremely difficult, in terms of bruising and fatigue - your body's extremely sore and it doesn't give it enough time to recover."

"It's usually two days after a game when it really starts to kick in, so it's about making sure we get the right preparation and recovery and getting as much healing done before the Monday match."

After Korey Smith made his City debut against the Owls and Simon Lappin has featured in the last two City matches, questions were put to Russell by reporters at a pre-match press conference about the competition for places in midfield within the Canary camp: "I was really pleased for Korey, he's done fantastically all season and I think he deserved his chance and he put on a good show. Laps has sat there patiently for probably the best part of a year and a half, and he's come in and done really well too.

"There is competition for places, the manager's got to make his decisions and I've got to try and prove myself in training and hopefully I can get myself back in."