LOMAS ON MANSFIELD TOWN: Homegrown teenage trio hint at better days ahead for Stags

The sight of three teenagers on the Mansfield Town bench at Northampton Town on Saturday was a big boost for the club, the fans and the youngsters as it hinted at better days ahead.
Tyrese Sinclair - one for the futureTyrese Sinclair - one for the future
Tyrese Sinclair - one for the future

With Stags now 16 points clear of the drop with only nine games left it's hard to see them being sucked back into any dogfights now considering the quality of the sides below them.

The splendid 2-1 win in 'the land of the giants' at physical promotion hopefuls Northampton Town last weekend showed Stags can cope with a battle which bodes well for next season.

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But the presence of the teenage trio also suggests that at long last the club are finally starting to once again produce their own.

Boss Graham Coughlan said it was insulting to suggest they may be there for novelty value or to boost them – he insisted the youngsters were purely there on merit.

He said on arrival that he believed in giving youth its head and this was sign that he feels some are ready to drop in.

Coughlan insists he only looks up the table and not below him and that he wasn't even aware of the number of points between themselves and bottom place.

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He said he was more interested in reeling in the sides above and heading for the relative pride of a mid-table finish.

That would be hugely welcome and very much against all the odds considering the situation he had inherited.

But you get the impression we will see the young players thrown in sooner than later.

Hopefully they will take their chance and quickly show their talents on the League Two stage - and one or two of them may save the Radfords a few quid this summer as Coughlan fits together a squad capable of challenging at the other end of this season.

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Stags fans have had precious little to cheer so far this season and many can't wait for it to end.

But the sight of home-grown talent coming into the team will at least give some added interest as the club battles to keep fans coming through the turnstiles.

Gate receipts for the final six home games are important towards Coughlan’s battle coffers for the summer and it’s up to Stags now to go on the run of results the manager had craved since he came in.If those results can be achieved with one or two youngsters in then even better.Seeing Crewe this Saturday after watching Northampton last weekend will be like chalk and cheese for the Stags faithful.One ex-Stags, Keith Curle, has decided on one method of getting out of this division at Northampton while another ex-Stags, Dave Artell, has a very different method up at Crewe.The big, brutal aerial assault of Northampton has at least got them into the play-off places while Artells's slick passing football at Gresty Road has Crewe top of the tree ahead of this weekend, albeit only on a single goal’s difference.Coughlan has said he wants to have a bit of both methods in his arsenal next year to make sure Stags can properly go toe to toe with all manner of opposition.