Alex MacDonald praises Mansfield Town fans after defeat

The game was Mansfield’s last of 2019 and saw a huge band of Stags fans head north for the encounter.

And MacDonald was impressed.

He said: “I don’t know how many supporters there were but at times they out sung the Bradford fans.

“When you come to a stadium like this, it’s impressive. They’ve got a lot of people behind the team but we certainly heard ours.

“The fans at this club have been magnificent. We did go through a bad spell at the start of the season but since the new manager has come in we’ve felt a galvanised spirit from the stands.

“It’ll certainly help us until the end of the season so from me and the boys we thank them for their support.”

MacDonald also spoke about the impact of new boss Graham Coughlan since his arrival from Bristol Rovers.

He said: “When the manager joined, it came during a tough spell where there’s not much time to get on the training pitch and put his ideas across, but what he has put across is a lot of hard work.

“We’ve certainly performed that in the few games that we’ve had under him. It’s not been through the lack of effort or desire but we just lack belief in both boxes.

“Having spoken to people who’ve worked under him he’s come across exactly how they’ve told me.

“He wants a hard-working group but it comes from a base, which is clean sheets. It’s something we’ve not been good at, so far, this year.

“We need to improve on that, he knows that and we as a group of professionals know that.

“We’re going to try and instil that first and foremost and anything that comes off the back of it will be a bonus.”

On the Bradford loss, MacDonald added: “It’s another hard one to take. A gritty, hard-working away performance but we’ve made two errors – one by myself – which has ultimately cost us.

“I don’t believe we deserved to lose the game but I don’t want to sound like a broken record.

“We’re not good enough in both boxes at the minute."