Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough wants to taste the winning feeling

Stags entertain promotion-chasing Morecambe at home tomorrow on the back of five games without a win.

And Clough is all too aware it is a streak that Mansfield need to snap quickly.

“We have to start winning to get the confidence back up again,” he said. “We have to stop the losses and then turn them into the wins.

“Lots of teams are having winning and losing streaks. It’s a funny season in football right now across the various divisions.

“People’s confidence is fragile across society at the moment, maybe it is getting through to the players.

“We want to get back to the winning feeling, it is a good feeling.

“We were flying before the break, then we had one game in four weeks and it has affected us without a doubt.

“We have to build up that momentum again.”

But it is a run of form which Clough is keen to put into some perspective with Stags having bagged 17 points from their last ten games.

“Over the last ten games we would be happy with that run,” he said. “Because it has come in two batches of five games, and we are on a bad run, it doesn't look as good.

“Over the ten games it is not bad form for a team who were struggling against relegation.

“I didn’t think we were the best team in the league when we won five in a row and we are not the worst now we have not won in five games.

“We will not get too carried away or too down and will keep it in perspective.

“Any team can beat anybody in this division. It is an incredibly even league and it makes it a dangerous season.

“It shows every game, that if you are not quite at it you can get turned over.

“If we had had a fairer week last week then we would be in the pack and we want to get into the top half in the coming weeks.”

And after the disappointing 1-0 defeat at Harrogate in midweek, Clough knows his side must start to defend better in order for the wins to come.

“It was one of those nights where you don't make an error and you will get a clean sheet and a point at least,” said Clough.

“It was criminal to give the goal away in the way we did and it cost us the game. We have to defend better than that.

“Harrogate are a team that are great at hanging on to a 1-0 lead. The conditions did not help us and we struggled to get back into it.

“We have to put it out of our mind now. The teams that recover best are the ones that do well.”