The Magpies’ youngsters welcome Norwich City to Whitley Park on Monday night (7pm kick-off), before travelling to Southampton on Friday.

Since a 2-1 defeat against the Canaries in mid-September, United have lost just once in 11 outings in all competitions, moving into play-off contention in the Premier League 2’s second tier and progressing to the last 16 of the Checkatrade Trophy.

After this evening’s clash, the Magpies will be exactly halfway through their league campaign, and with the New Year on the horizon, Dawson is desperate for his young side to ensure they have plenty left at stake heading into the latter stages of the season.

“It’s a really important week. If we’re not careful, we could get cut adrift from the top five, and if you get knocked out of the Checkatrade Trophy you’re struggling for things to play for during the remainder of the season,” he told nufc.co.uk. “We’ve stressed the importance of preparing for this week, trying to get back to a certain level of performance.

“The game the other night (against Macclesfield Town), it was a great result to get through, but we were disappointed we didn’t perform the way we normally do. The challenge is to continue our good form in terms of results, but we want the team and the individuals within it to be developing and improving on performances game to game.

“We did a bit of work to try and turn our fortunes around at Whitley Park, and we’ve been on a good run since we played Norwich away from home, where they had a couple of first-team lads out. That makes a difference, but you can never plan for it. The only thing we can plan for is what we do, and it’ll be the same again on Monday.”

Admission for tonight's game is priced at £3 for adults and £1 for concessions. Season ticket holders can attend for free.