Time to kickstart home form urges Stags skipper Collins

Mansfield Town skipper Lee Collins urged the side to end their home stutters and take a grip of what he believes could be a very successful season.
Lee Collins in action for Stags.Lee Collins in action for Stags.
Lee Collins in action for Stags.

Ahead of the visit of struggling Stevenage on Saturday, the Stags have only won twice in nine home games, two in cup competitions.

So, after another excellent away result – a 1-1 draw at Luton Town on Saturday – Collins said: “If we could take half of what we do away and bring it back home, we’d be right up there.

“We just need to get our season going at home really.

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“It’s like some sort of voodoo over us. I just don’t get it. I don’t know what the difference is.

“We pick up points away so I don’t know why we can’t win at home. It’s something we are trying to rectify.

“If we sort that out we’ll be right up there.”

Stags defended superbly at Luton, defending 10 corners in the second half alone.

“It was definitely backs to the wall,” said Collins. “But we allowed that a bit as we wanted to suck them in and press them on the counter.

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“Fair play, they really chucked it at us and they had quite a lot of corners consecutively. But we dealt with it really well and they only had one good chance, which ended up in the back of the net.

“The back four were solid, I thought it was really disciplined from the midfield, especially the two on the outside, and I thought it was a real man’s performance.

“Overall we were pleased with a point at Luton. If you’d offered me a point before the game I’d have taken it.

“We were just starving for that second goal to kill them off a bit.

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“We tried to chuck bodies forward and exploit them with our counter attacking tactic. But unfortunately we didn’t get the second and they’ve snuck one in.”

Nevertheless, only leaders Plymouth have conceded less League goals than Mansfield so far and Collins admitted: “It’s something we pride ourselves on.

“We did it last year. I remember every week last year Taffers (Ryan Tafazolli) would check if we were top of the defensive (stats league) thing, and we do it again this year. “The whole back four do it. It’s something we are proud of and it starts in training really.”