Mansfield Town facing tough test at in-form Bradford City

The Bantams have soared up the League Two table after winning nine of their last 12 matches since new bosses Mark Trueman and Conor Sellars took charge.

“They are the form team in the league right now,” said Clough. “It's a staggering run they are on since changing manager.

“They had a good win at Walsall on Saturday and they will be confident.

“You never really know how the games will go. You can have ideas of how you think it will pan out but it very rarely goes that way.

“Bradford are a very strong team at home and have got some very good players. It will be all about how we start the game and deal with them.”

Clough hopes Stags can build on the impressive weekend win over Morecambe and go on a good run of form.

But he knows his side face some tough tests ahead, with a number of play-off chasing sides still to visit the One Call Stadium.

Nigel Clough says the future is bright

“The next few home games are against top seven sides and the away ones are against so called lesser sides” said Cough.

“ It is going to be interesting to see the contrast and it makes it a tough run of games for us.

“Ideally we can get back into the top half. We have had a reasonable run in the last three months and are still in the bottom half of the league.

“It just shows the position we are trying to recover from in terms of points and confidence.

“The win over Morecambe has lifted the mood around the place.

“It was important we stopped the rot as soon as possible and we did that with the result and the performance.

“We have to keep doing the right things and not make mistakes. As long as we do that then we are in the game.

“It was a solid performance against Morecambe and hopefully this will be a springboard for us.”

Visit www.chad.co.uk for the full post match reaction.