LOMAS ON MANSFIELD TOWN: Stags have 11 games to salvage lost pride

The 13 point gap to bottom club Stevenage should be enough to survive, but Graham Coughlan has already said he won’t be convinced of anything until they hit the 50-point mark.Like Stags, Stevenage had their game postponed due to the wet weather last weekend as they sit eight points adrift of Macclesfield Town and 10 points behind Morecambe.As we all know, due to Bury’s tragic demise, only one club will drop down into the National League this time and Stags have to ensure they don’t suffer the embarrassment of finishing second from bottom and only kept up by another club’s issues.Of course, there could still be other twists in the battle against relegation as Oldham Athletic fight winding up orders and potential administration.And, of course, were coronavirus suddenly to take a grip there would be the danger of season 2019/20 failing to reach completion.It’s all worst case scenario stuff for the clubs down there but no one should ever take anything for granted in football.The good news for Mansfield is that, Leyton Orient away aside, the Stags’ performances have largely been better under new boss Coughlan and they are very capable of picking up points between now and the summer to try to finish a nightmare season in a respectable position.It was hugely disappointing to lose the Swindon game on Saturday but not a huge surprise considering recent storms and the rising water table.Mez Merriman has performed minor miracles on the pitch in recent times to get games on but had to wave the white flag on this occasion as Mother Nature beat him down.It did at least give Mansfield an extra week to shake off bumps and bruises as well as wounded pride after the defeat at Cheltenham Town where they deserved better than the 1-0 defeat.Alex MacDonald and Matt Preston could now both be fit again by the weekend and their return to the squad will pile the pressure on players already in the side, which is no bad thing.That will leave only Kelland Gordon in the physio’s room, still needing further treatment on his long-standing back problem and unable to show the new management team what he is about.Coughlan will be hoping no one else is added to that list after what is expected to be a bruising encounter with Keith Curle’s Northampton at Sixfields this weekend with six games to play this month.That is more than enough to reach the magic 50-point mark and allow Coughlan the luxury of being able to experiment.Home fans would love to see players like Jimmy Naylor given a run of games and the desperately unlucky Craig Davies would relish a few games ahead of a hard summer of work to regain full fitness at long last.In the meantime apparently we all need to wash our hands as we sing Happy Birthday and hopefully see off a smaller but much more potent opponent than Northampton!