All-action midfielder Michael O'Connor is raring to go for the final 11 games of the season after missing almost a month of action through suspension.

The Northern Ireland international has been suspended for the last three games, receiving the ban after video evidence showed him to have hit out at Watford midfielder Tom Cleverley following a bad challenge on O'Connor by the on-loan Manchester United star.

O'Connor felt he was hard done by to be forced to miss out but he's delighted to be back now.

"I'm just happy to be back in the fold now I've served the ban," he told Scunthorpe-United.co.uk.

"It feels like a long time since I last played so it's good to be back, especially against Newcastle in a big game.

"I hope I can be involved but I'm just happy to be available again.

"I missed the Newcastle game last time around through suspension, and I missed Manchester City in the FA Cup too, so it would be good to be involved in such a big game for us.

"The lads did so well against Newcastle last time, getting the win, and if we can do the double that would be amazing. Stranger things have happened in football.

"They have one or two players missing and we'll go out and give it a good go."

O'Connor says he's feeling 100 per cent ahead of the trip to St James' Park. The midfielder played for Northern Ireland away at Albania a fortnight ago, which helped keep his match fitness up.

He added: "I played 45 minutes in that game and it was a waste of time going away there but I've trained well, done a bit of running and hopefully I can start on Wednesday night because I feel ready.

"It's been a bit stopstart because I was suspended at the end of January too. I was then back for two or three games then suspended again so I need to cut down on that but I felt my form was okay."

The former Crewe midfielder has complete confidence that Scunthorpe can survive this season. They sit in the bottom three heading to Newcastle but a win at the league leaders can see them climb up to 20th position.

"We have a game in hand over Sheffield Wednesday and two on Crystal Palace," he continued.

"We have to try and get the goal difference down because there's maybe an extra point in it.

"We just need to win our home games. I feel we'll be all right if we manage that."