Mal Benning can't wait for Mansfield Town's busy Festive schedule to start

After losing the home game with Crawley at the end of last month and then seeing Saturday’s game at Forest Green abandoned at half-time, in-form Mansfield have been left playing catch-up again.

Ahead of Saturday’s game at Stevenage, Benning said: “We’ve now had a full week’s training.

“With Crawley being called off and then last weekend we’ve not had a consistent run of games so we hope we can get that going again.

“When we were playing Saturday/Tuesday every week we picked up some good results.”

On Stevenage, he said: “They are always robust opponents and this season they are up there as well.

“They have had a decent start, so it will be a tough game. But, if we are on our game, as I always say, we’ll win.

“It’s a good time of the season with so many games. If you win them you’re right up there. Win two on the bounce and you can fly up the league.”

Benning has been happy with his own form, saying: “I’d like to think over my four seasons here I’ve been consistent.

“Everyone goes through dips in form and it’s how you react to that. I just want to keep this going now.”

Benning described last Saturday’s game at Forest Green as a farce and believes it should never have started.

He said: “That is the first game I have been involved in that’s been called off at half-time. But I think it was the right decision. The pitch was waterlogged.

“The decision should have been done and dusted before kick-off. “When we were warming up you could see the puddles even then. The groundsmen were doing as much as they could but it didn’t really help. As the rain carried on it just got worse.

“Once we knew the game was going ahead you just had to focus. “The gaffer said to us there were no excuses as it was the same for both sides. We just had to get on with it. It was an experience!

“But it was just a scrap. No one could get their foot on the ball. It was a farce to be honest.”