Mansfield Town fans yet to see the best of January signings

New signing Jamie Murphy - tired in the second half at Bristol Rovers.

All four new faces were inevitably out of favour at the clubs who have allowed them out and manager Nigel Clough said it was now a case of bringing them up to speed as quickly as possible with a very busy March and April ahead for his promotion-chasers.

Lucas Akins, Matty Longstaff, Jamie Murphy and Keiran Wallace have all now had a taste of the action

“So trying to get them all in and up to speed while in the middle of a hectic league programme is a balancing act,” said Clough.

“It's great when you bring players in in January and everyone is excited. But they are all at different levels and stages of fitness.

“Lucas hadn't started many games since mid-December.

“Keiran Wallace has had a knee operation. He's fit but we have to be a little bit careful with him.

“Jamie Murphy has not been a regular starter and Matty Longstaff hasn't started a proper game since October for Aberdeen.”

He added: “Trying to change four of five players each game is the main thing with so many games ahead and such a strong squad.

“Our running stats were down and we certainly didn't look anywhere near as sharp as we did against Colchester.

“Irrespective of the previous result we now have the quality to change four or five players, though I don't think the back four are affected.

Clough was delighted with the debut of Longstaff on Saturday – the last of the four to get a taste of the action.

The signing of the Newcastle United youngster on January transfer deadline day raised many eyebrows, clubs surprised to see him drop as low as League Two.

But Clough said the level was irrelevant as the youngster needed games and after his display at Bristol, Clough said: “He definitely needs a few games to adjust, but I was very pleased with his physical output over the 90-odd minutes he played.

“You can see he's technically a very good player. It's just so different to the Premier League he's been used to and even the SPL in Scotland.

“So it will take him a bit of time but it was good to get him on the pitch.

“I think he will play an important role for us in the last 16/17 games.”