January transfer plans on hold as depleted Mansfield Town head for table-topping Cardiff City

Boss Nigel Clough always looks to freshen things up with one or two changes in January, but with George Maris, Max Dickov and Rhys Oates now also freshly sidelined this week, he now needs to sit tight to see how quick his injury list clears up and what he may need.

Stags hope to have Elliott Hewitt and Baily Cargill back for the weekend.

But it is how well the other injured players recover that will dictate what Stags do in the forthcoming window.

“We are hoping to get the players back within the month of January, so a lot will depend on how they recover in the next four weeks,” said Clough.

“Generally when everyone is fit we are very happy with the squad.

“There is not too much we will be looking to do in January.

“I think that's been proved in the first 10-15 games of the season.

“So it all depends on how they rehabilitate in the next few weeks.

“We may still bring in one or two and one or two go out as usual.

“But when everyone is fit I think we have good numbers and we will look at everything closer to the time.

“We do have plans but this is football and we had great plans five or six days ago, but then you lose three players and, to a certain degree, you have to change your thinking.”

In the meantime, injury-hit Mansfield face the toughest of tasks at Cardiff City this Saturday with the high-flying Bluebirds top of the table with a game in hand.

Clough said: “They are going very well at the moment.

“They have a lovely settled side, playing with a nice rhythm with a lot of attacking intent.

“Even if we had everybody available we'd have to be at our best to compete with them. So it will be a tough old game.

“But we have a good squad – that's the one thing we have done better this season – coping with the injuries with the depth of squad.

“But that will be severely tested in the next few weeks. Sometimes out of adversity you can get a result or two and we will need to do that in the next few weeks.”