Boss Nigel Clough delighted as Mansfield Town remain last unbeaten EFL club after away victory at Accrington Stanley

That made it nine games without loss, despite a crippling injury list, and Clough said: “It means we have an element of resilience about us as we've gone behind in a few of those games and come back for draws or wins, which is a good sign. We should have won more of our away games really. But it is very early days yet still.

“It is a good basis to go ahead and considering the players we have had missing, the squad is better equipped to deal with it.

“I think we will be tested at Colchester this Saturday as much as any game so far.

“They will be very different to the last game of last season. They survived the relegation battle and will need to do much better than that this year.

“They invested heavily in January and a little bit again in the summer.

“They have just had an outstanding home display and win against Tranmere – they had 27 shots on Saturday. They will be a different proposition to a few months ago.”

Stags' win at Accrington was their first in 15 league clashes with Stanley and Clough said: “It was important to get that first away win of the season on Saturday. It was probably not our best performance on the road – some aspects we have to improve upon – but it was certainly our best result.

“The goals obviously make it a stand-out result, two from individual brilliance and a good team goal in between.

“We needed that away win sooner than later, especially with the next two out of three coming up being down at Colchester then down at Gillingham. We go there with a bit more confidence.

“We have to keep it going and the next three are going to be as big a test as anything with Barrow sandwiched between the two away games and having made a great start. The next three will tell us a bit more about how far on the road we are.”

Stags have four new injury worries ahead of Colchester, though could welcome back Callum Johnson from injury.

“Calum Macdonald (ankle) and Jordan Bowery (groin) won't train until late in the week and we will see how they are,” said Clough.

“And Ollie Clarke took a whack on the shin with a late tackle,

“Probably the worst out the four was George Maris who, because he's not very good at tackling, actually injured himself when he committed the foul and got booked. He caught his knee and we probably need a scan on that as a precaution. We will see how it settles down.

“But Callum Johnson is down to train this week and if we lose one we will put him on the bench. With a hamstring we will err on the side of caution. He is the last one who is close – the other six are all longer term.”

Stags host NottsCounty tomorrow (Wednesday) in a reserves clash and Clough said: “It will be mostly the U19s who are fit. John-Joe O'Toole needs a game as do George Williams and George Cooper. After that I am not sure who I can risk.”