Mansfield Town boss Graham Coughlan slams poor fitness and dire defending as Stags slide towards drop zone.

Stags could have had the game sewn up with the chances they had at 0-0 but again atrocious defending left them empty-handed as Coughlan made a fruitless return to his former club.

“We pushed a promotion-chasing team but yet again we’ve come out with nothing,” he said. “But at this moment in time, the basics are not good enough.

“It's plain to see there’s a distinct lack of confidence – the lads look as if they’re beat up, but we have to stay positive. What we have to hang onto is the performances.

“We can’t go beating these lads up because this is what we’ve got to get us through to the end of the season.

“The performance was good last week and was good this week, yet we come away with no points. They are feeling it. I am feeling it. We're all feeling it.

“Physically, the lads are trying. But they're getting tired in the last 10-15 minutes of games. That's down to conditioning and pre-season. They aren’t going to get fit overnight – that’s something we are working on.

“You can’t mess about with your career as a professional footballer for six months then expect to turn it back on – it doesn’t happen like that. Football is a ruthless game and we’re getting punished for our misdemeanours over the last six months.

“We are working on the training ground and the lads are working their socks off. The lads are in three times a day.

“We either bring reinforcements in or continue to work on the training ground and hope that the penny drops.”

Once again defensive failings proved costly.

“It was rank bad defending. A basic, simple catalogue of errors has cost us today,” he said.

“If we defend like that, we’re going to lose games of football.

“I thought our tactics were spot on and we were excellent in the game plan we’ve worked on all week.

“We should’ve buried them and put them away, but as long as you’re missing chances, you’re vulnerable at the other end of the park.

“We have to defend better. And if you don’t defend better, you get punished – we got punished today.”

He continued: “We’re creating plenty – the performances are there - but we need to address something defensively, because that’s seven goals conceded in two games.

“When we get the opportunity I expect us to put the ball in the back of the net. There shouldn't be a lack of confidence in front of goal as that's four goals in two games.

“Going forward, we’re fine, but we have a hell of a lot of work to do defensively, to be quite honest. “Our strikers should have had a hatful today – it was another game we should have got more out of. I am beginning to sound like a stuck record here week in week out.

“We are in games - it’s just basics in both boxes that are letting us down.”

Stags might have had a penalty in the first half as keeper Alex Palmer seemed to bring down CJ Hamilton, but Hamilton was booked for simulation instead.

“The keeper has caught him and CJ has gone down,” said Coughlan. “I would have asked CJ to stay on his feet and put the ball in the back of the net so there’s no controversy or debate after the game.

“But the goalkeeper has caught him and the goalie has got a tad fortunate – that’s life.”

Stags lost both Hayden White and Danny Rose with injuries and Coughlan added: “We’ll know more about them in the next 24 hours - they both have muscular injuries.

“We’ll assess them over the next 24 hours and see what the severity is. Fingers crossed, they’re not too bad.”