"Confidence is important in any league!" Self belief can help transform Mansfield Town's season, says Nigel Clough

Nigel Clough believes confidence can take you a long way - and there's probably no better example of that in the Football League right now than Mansfield Town.

The Stags were winless in 12 matches this season when former manager Graham Coughlan left the club following last month's 4-2 home defeat to Barrow.

But since then Town have enjoyed a reversal in fortunes, securing two draws under caretaker boss Richard Cooper before he signed off in style, guiding the club to their first win since March with a 1-0 success at League One Sunderland in the FA Cup.

New boss Clough watched from the stands that day before taking over a team which has gone on to win twice more in the space of four days, an EFL Trophy victory at Scunthorpe United followed by their first three league points on Saturday at pacesetting Forest Green Rovers.

"Confidence is important in any league, you look at Manchester United at the moment," Clough said, acknowledging that a squad needs more than high-profile signings to get things right on the pitch.

"They're a club that'll be trying to instill that confidence an belief.

"The only way players can get that is by working hard and winning games. If you can't win them, don't lose them."

The work rate of the players was one of the things which caught the former Derby County, Sheffield United and Burton Albion boss' eye when he first met up with his new players.

Now he wants to get more from his squad by adding to this five-game unbeaten streak.

"The main job over the next few weeks is to lift the spirits, build some confidence and hopefully that'll help the players fulfil their potential on the pitch," Clough added.

"It's been a good settling in period. It's nice when the team wins a couple of matches, that helps.

"But it's about getting to know everybody, especially the players, and assessing them for the next six or seven weeks before January.

"Every time you see them you learn more - talking to them, on the training pitch and especially during games."

Skipper Ollie Clarke believes the team spirit has been evident at Mansfield all season, even through the difficult start to the campaign.

But he admitted that the recent run of results has put an added spring into the side's step.

He said: "It's definitely a better place to come into in the morning when you've had some positive results, but ultimately everyone comes in and has a laugh and a joke every day.

"We knew from the start of the season once we got a few results under our belt we'd get a bit of momentum and kick on a little bit. But it probably took a bit too long."

The Stags return to action on Friday night as they host Colchester United in what will be Clough's first game in charge of Town at One Call Stadium (KO 7pm).

And while Mansfield are in good form, building on that first league win will be vital in the coming weeks as they look to climb up from 21st place, still just three points above a place in the bottom two.

However, Clough - who wants to turn his team from relegation battlers to title challengers within 18 months - has every confidence that he and his team can deliver.

"The experience I've got will hopefully stand us in good stead," he said.

"The experiences you go through are the most important things. Over 22 years in management I've pretty much seen everything football can throw at you.

"We want to help the players, with our experience, to get out of trouble and then go forward."

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