Goal-happy George Lapslie setting new target at Mansfield Town

The 25-year-old bagged nine for the Stags two seasons ago and seven last season, but goals in the last two games have already taken him to six this term – the club's top scorer – and it's only October.

“I think I have done all right, but the team are playing well and I am getting a lot of opportunities to create and get goals. It's a team game,” he said.

“The boys are getting me into good positions and I am managing to put them away or set them up.

“We work hard in training on what runs I should make into the penalty area and it is working.

“I will take it. I am back in the team now too. My original target was five by Christmas but when I set that target I thought I was going to be playing a bit deeper.

“So I have re-evaluated my targets with the missus and I just hope the team can keep winning.

“I would rather not have scored on Saturday and won.”

He added: “Playing No.10 behind a striker is probably my preferred position. But I will play wherever the team needs me. I have played all over in my career.

“I have loved my time here so far. It's a great club and I am grateful to Graham Coughlan for bringing me here. I don't think I am at my best yet – I think I can get better.”

Lapslie's latest goal came in Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Crawley and he said: “I don’t think I could’ve missed, Ell (Elliott Hewitt) put it on a plate for me.

“It was perfect and I would probably have found it harder to miss than to hit the target.

“He did that a few weeks back as well against Manchester City.

“He does that well when he drives down the right and obviously just puts in a great cross. He did the same against Walsall.”

However, Stags came away with nothing from Crawley and Lapslie said: “It’s frustrating obviously.

“Going away from home you want to come back with something.

“We obviously haven't started sharp enough and they’ve had two goals which we’ve done relatively little to stop.

“It is frustrating for the whole team to go 2-0 down that early on.

“It’s the whole team not just individuals at fault.

“We showed good character to bounce back and probably should’ve gone in at half-time winning the game.”

“We believed we would go on and win the game.

“Obviously we’ve come in at half-time and they’ve scored straight away in the second-half which was a kick in the teeth. But we still should have done more to win it. We had good chances.”

Despite that result, Stags are firmly in the promotion mix and Lapslie said: “If we keep doing well we are in a good position and leaving ourselves with a chance at the back end of the season.

“We made it quite hard for ourselves to get that chance last season. If you'd given us this position at the start of the season, probably 95 per cent of the people here would probably have said go for it and we will kick on from there.

“If we had the start we've had this season last season then I think it's pretty safe to say we'd have got automatic.

“The fans are unreal and the atmosphere is incredible. I’m so grateful to them.

“Hopefully they will stick with us.”