Big week of opportunity for Mansfield Town as they take on three strugglers in a row

They then host Crawley Town on Tuesday night before heading for Shrewsbury Town on Saturday week.

“The next three games are an opportunity for us,” said boss Nigel Clough, who was still smarting after Wycombe Wanderers stole a second late win of the season over the Stags last weekend.

“We want to try to get over that 40-point mark. That is the aim. Then it's not too far to the 50-mark

“We should have had a point towards it on Saturday and hopefully we can try to get there over the next couple of games.”

Cambridge gave Stags a stern examination before losing 2-1 early in the season and Clough said: “I am very surprised where they are and it's a good case of showing what happens when things are not quite running for you.

“But it will be as tough as any game this season.

“They played extremely well at Bolton on Saturday and were 2-1 up until the late stages of the game.

“There is no bad team in the league this season and they are more than capable on their day.

“It a difficult place to go – one of those grounds where everyone is close to you, which creates a good atmosphere.”

Stags came so close to beating Wycombe last weekend before the blow of a late goal condemned them to a 2-1 home defeat.

But Clough is hugely encouraged by how far his promoted side have come in such a small space of time.

“We are losing to these teams by such small margins, it's incredible,” he said.

“If you had said to me six months ago we would be playing teams above us and only losing by the odd goal and coming out of it thinking we deserved something from this we would have that.

“That was twice we deserved something against Wycombe.

“We are a bit closer to the top teams in our first season in League One than we anticipated we would be six months ago.

“It is testament to how good the players have been.

“If we are playing at our best and we have nine, 10 or even 11 players playing extremely well on the day then we can compete.

“We are quite a bit ahead of where we thought we would be.

“The best thing this season is when we lost those five on the spin confidence did not dwindle at all and the belief was still there. That was important.”

He added: “Once again we deserved something from Saturday's game and those little fine margins are not going our way at the moment.

“We have to do better in certain little areas, but second half especially was a very good performance.

“We were inches away from winning the game with the Will Evans chance, which trickled just wide, and then a couple of minutes later we gave the ball away and were punished for it.

“That's what sides at the top do – they punish you for small errors with the quality they have.”

Stags expect to have regular keeper Christy Pym back for Saturday’s game at Cambridge United, but Clough paid tribute to Scott Flinders, who stood in for Pym on Saturday and in doing so recorded his 600th career outing.

“Christy is fine – no problems. It was just illness and he will be fine for the weekend,” said Clough. “But Scotty Flinders again was magnificent and was so unlucky with the penalty.

“It would have been nice for him to mark that milestone with a penalty save and possibly a clean sheet, he is unlucky not to achieve that.

“But when you get to that sort of figure it shows what a magnificent professional he is."