Mansfield Town focused on beating Stevenage and not the expected Steve Evans ‘circus sideshow’ on his return

Stags are still in with a shout of both automatic promotion and the play-offs but know how crucial it is to win this massive game in hand with only two games left after it.

Evans is widely disliked in Mansfield having suddenly quit the club to become Peterborough United manager in February 2018 and is likely to get a very hostile reception on his first visit back.

“We have to completely ignore it and do exactly what we did on Saturday,” said Clough

“We have to be completely focused on our performance.

“We don't want anything to distract or subtract from that at all.

CRUCIAL STEVENAGE CLASH NOW BIGGEST GAME OF SEASON SO FAR SAYS CLOUGH

“We have a reasonably experienced side out there which helps as they just calm everything down. That's what we will need in the next few games.”

On the opposition, he added: “I think Stevenage will be aggressive in the right way in terms of closing us down and stopping us playing first and foremost, then they are a threat.

“They have just beaten a promotion-chasing team in Tranmere on Saturday, which ended their unbeaten run of a few games, and I think Stevenage will be as confident as anybody in the league, especially after securing their status.

“We expect it to be a physical game in the right way.”

Stags were furious when Stevenage were recently allowed to postpone this fixture due to an alleged Covid outbreak in the squad straight after Evans took over and Clough said: “We should have played them a few weeks ago and the game we still think was unjustifiably called off.

“They got themselves safe on Saturday which was a big milestone for them.

“Now they can relax and play a little bit and Steve will be looking to build for next season.

“There is the personal aspect of him being a former manager here and everything, they have just got safe and have players who are out of contract who will be desperate to earn new contracts there or elsewhere.

“So it will be just as tough as it was against Crawley on Saturday. In the 43 games we've had I don't think we've had an easy one.

“There have been no walkovers and I don't expect it to be like that against Stevenage.”

He added: “Literally within about five minutes of the end of Saturday's game we were concentrating on Tuesday. That's the focus the players need to have and we all need to have.

“We've done our job in that one and now we are working the team and how we can best get three points against Stevenage.”

Clough said Mansfield would not be changing their game in any way, despite the mounting pressure.

“Saturday's win over Crawley was a very similar performance to the one at Carlisle and we didn't panic after the two defeats,” he said.

“We have to stay calm and composed in the last few games and keep playing like we do.

“There is no point in trying to change it at this stage after 40-odd games. We have been trying to play this way since the first game of the season.

“Sometimes it's good and it works and sometimes it doesn't, which is down to us or the opposition, but playing that is our strength and we have to keep doing it and keep doing it well.

“Our first goal on Saturday epitomised it. James Perch on the edge of his own box, instead of just whacking the ball clear, just played a little four or five yard ball which started a 10-pass move in which the ball doesn't go above knee height until the cross comes in from Elliott Hewitt.”