Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough and players loving the One Call Stadium atmosphere

Another noisy crowd helped Stags make it two wins out of two at home against Newport last Saturday with Bradford City the visitors this coming weekend.

After so long locked out of grounds due to the pandemic the supporters have come back louder than ever and a delighted Clough said: “It's up to us to keep that going with our performances and results.

“Scoring goals and winning games is the way to do that.

“When Ollie Clarke nearly broke the net with the second goal on Saturday, there was nearly as big a roar as when we scored the late penalty the week before.

“The players are really enjoying it and they have missed it.

“I don't know what it was like here when they last played in front of a crowd 18 months ago, but the new lads are relishing it and the old lads just said it feels a bit different.

“The crowds have definitely come back in with renewed enthusiasm and fervour and we have to play our part on the pitch to keep that going.”

Ahead of last night's trip to Colchester United (full report at www.chad.co.uk) he added: “We have not been as fluent as we'd like to be, but we've scored four goals in our first two league games.

“The only things concerning is the goals we've given away. We couldn't do anything about the one against Bristol Rovers, but a couple against Preston and one on Saturday were very avoidable from our point of view.”

Stags have this week allowed striker Jimmy Knowles to join Scottish Championship club Greenock Morton on a season-long loan.

The 19-year-old, who was on loan at National League outfit Notts County last season, has found first team opportunities limited at One Call Stadium.The transfer is subject to international clearance.

Clough also continues to try to bring in another defender before the deadline.

"We are still talking to one target in particular,” he said. “We have a list of three at the moment but are still chasing our top target.”