Mansfield Town defender Elliott Hewitt highlights key role of club's fans

The Stags man, like the rest of his team-mates, has valued the support the club’s fans have given the players both at home and away throughout the campaign.

And now, with more than 700 set to travel north to Tranmere on Friday night as the push for promotion really hots up, he knows that backing will be crucial.

He said: “They’ve been massive this season, more so at the start of the season when things were not going our way and they were sticking with us.

“Now, there have been a few games where we have been 2-0 up, and when we got back to 2-2 against Hartlepool. The fans push us on and bring us back into the game.

“It is what we need for the rest of the season. They were massive at Bradford as there were 16,000 home fans but all I could hear was the away fans so hopefully they can continue that for the rest of the season.”

Hewitt also acknowledged the magnitude of breaking the consecutive home wins record last Friday against Exeter, that match being the tenth success in a row and in front of another big crowd.

He added: “It’s a record that’s stood for so long and is the second record we’ve broken this season so hopefully we can keep doing it.

"The remaining home games will be massive and we fancy ourselves against anyone there, so hopefully the fans can keep that support up.”