Mansfield Town close in on two more deals as new signing Joe Gardner faces scan on ankle injury
Mansfield Town are hoping new signing Joe Gardner is not facing a lengthy lay-off after he suffered an ankle injury in last night's 3-1 pre-season friendly win at Sligo Rovers.
But boss Nigel Clough is closing in on two more signings, both expected to be forwards.
Stags are on a training camp in Ireland and only announced the season-long loan signing of promising Nottingham Forest forward Gardner on Monday.
He went off with the first half hour of a very physical first half and Clough said: “The only downside from the game was Joe Gardner. One bad tackle in the game and unfortunately he's done his ankle. We are not sure how bad it is – we will get it scanned on Friday.
“As soon as he came off his ankle had swollen up straight away.
“There is some degree of ligament damage and we just hope for the lad that it's not too serious and he is only a few weeks out.
“He has been great since he has been here the last couple of days with a smile on his face, enjoying it.
“But it is a long season, so we will get him back as soon as we can.”
Apart from that Clough was delighted with the increased competitiveness against a Sligo side struggling in their League of Ireland Premier Division season but who have hit some form with only one loss in six games.
“It was a step up in everything,” said Clough.
“Sligo are mid-season with some very fit lads and it was a good test for us and a good run out.
“We split the team again with 60 minutes for the starting XI and we will reverse that on Saturday for Middlesbrough.
“The game was how we wanted it – without that one tackle.
“When you're playing a team that's in mid-season and on a good run as well, and have just brought four or five new players in, it is going to be competitive.
“They were much sharper in terms of closing us down and stopping us playing.
“But I thought once we settled down after five or 10 minutes I was very pleased with the performance overall.”
Stags fans will be delighted to see Rhys Oates back and scoring goals after his long injury lay-off, netting twice last night.
“They were two brilliant finishes from Rhys, especially the second one when he hit it first time,” said Clough
“It was similar but not quite as spectacular as the one Aaron Lewis scored at Accrington a couple of years back but still a very good finish indeed.
“It is lovely to see him back and we will keep on building his fitness up.
“He is a threat in behind and it's lovely he has scored three goals in the last two games.
“Who scored our other goal has not been decided, but I think it hit Will Evans, so it will probably be his goal.”
On current injury niggles, Clough added: “George Maris just felt his hip a little bit so we took him off a bit earlier as a precaution.
“The only other one missing was Jordan Bowery who had a very tight groin in training.”
Former Stags star Stephen Quinn, who quit playing at the end of the season to forge a new coaching career, was a surprise sight on the Mansfield bench last night in his home country.
“He has been ticking over with us so we just put his name down just in case of an emergency,” explained Clough.
“He is just helping out at the moment and we are talking to him to see if there is anything we can do to keep him involved.”
But there is no sign of striker Lee Gregory yet, who is trying to recover from a knee operation to win a new contract.
“Lee is doing his work back at the RH Academy. We keep getting updates and hopefully we will know a bit more next week,” said Clough.
The manager is hoping for two more forward players before the big kick-off.
“We are working on one or two and we would hope to sign them if it's a yes from the players,” he said.
“I think we are nearly there in terms of the deals.
“Until they sign we don't like to say anything, but we are getting close.
“We are very happy with the squad and the seven we have brought in.
“Another couple would be ideal as once you get into the real competitive stuff is when you get injuries.”