Stags can make play-offs but Evans hoping on Lady Luck to help

Stags head down to Barnet tomorrow to try to keep a six game unbeaten League run going and Evans said: “We can certainly achieve that, but we are going to need a little bit of luck along the way.

“Sir Bobby Robson told me ‘to be a good manager you need to be lucky son’, and those words have always stuck by me.

“I have been fortunate in my career. You don’t win nine promotions by not being lucky.

“You have to have a bit of luck, but that has to be alongside hard work, determination and the ability to put a team together through individuals. You need a spirit in the dressing room that is us and them.

“It’s going to be tough. You saw a mixture of results the other night and I don’t think many would have predicted Cheltenham beating Luton.

“Have we given ourselves a chance with the quality we’ve brought in? One million per cent.”

Even at this stage of the season, Evans feels it may be too late for a top three finish with some many points having gone awry before he took over.

“We can finish in the play-offs for sure. I think maybe the top three has already gone,” he said.

“I have always maintained since I came in, three points in August or September is as vital as three points in February or March. Once they are in the bank, they are there forever.

“We have a terrific group and with the new pair we’ve signed there is an instant feeling in the dressing room that we have strengthened again.

“We’ll win together, we’ll lose together, we’ll keep it on a level.

“There will be weeks Stags fans will think we are going to get into that top seven easily and other weeks they will be thinking it’s all over.

“But what I have learned in some of the success we had at Rotherham United, I think we were 12th/13th in the table in the middle of February and went up in second. That’s how quickly things can happen if you get on a roll and can win some games.

“Certainly what we’ve got assembled here is good enough to win a lot of games.”