Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough happy to see frustrated players get heated over winless run

Stags halted that torturous run with a much-needed 2-1 home win over Barnsley last time out.

But tension had clearly built up in the camp and, with no game last weekend, Clough gave the players a few days away from each other to relax mentally last week as part of the build up to this Saturday's trip to Bristol Rovers.

“It had been a pretty tough 10 weeks since January and not winning a game leads to a not very harmonious atmosphere around the place at times,” said Clough.

“And you don't want it to be either.

“It was a difficult decision what to do with the break that would benefit the lads.

“We didn't want them to have a break physically, but mentally they needed to get away from each other for a few days as it was getting a bit fractious, getting at each other's throats as you would expect in a winless run.

“It is frustration at not winning games as much as anything, especially when you know you have deserved to win a few of them we have drawn or drawn a few that we have lost.”

He continued: “You don't want everything to be placid and nice when you are losing games.

"We need a little bit of fire and honesty. You don't want everyone to be laughing and joking.

“But you do need to also keep a level of perspective as we are in League One for the first time in 20 years and we are battling to stay in it.

“If you had offered us this position at the start of the season we would have taken it.

“The lads who had been playing all had programmes to do to tick over last week and the injured lads were in as normal.

“Mentally I think it's done everyone good and gives us a focus on the last nine games.”