Mansfield Town in no rush to bring in new faces ahead of Walsall clash

Clough has said he may add up to four new faces in the January window, which is halfway through this weekend, and is also trying to persuade John-Joe O'Toole to sign a new extended deal, though he has a better deal on offer from a League One side.

“We are trying and we are close with one or two. But we had a good 18 out there against Swindon,” he said.

“Faz Rawson will be back in soon, Tyrese Sinclair was back in on Tuesday night, and George Lapslie is a week or two from being fit – and that's on top of the 18 we put out on Tuesday.

“So we've still got a good squad and there will be no panicking.

“There will be no desperation buys or loans as there's no need.

“We are in a nice position and we will add two or three bodies to it while some of the younger lads will go out and get some football.

“We will just try improve the squad without breaking any sort of camaraderie that we have at the moment.”

On persuading John-Joe O'Toole to stay, he added: “I think it's still up in the air at the moment. He says he still has this very good offer on the table.

“But if he is going somewhere I don't think anybody could have been more committed than he was against Swindon.”

Being in the middle of a gruelling schedule of two games a week, Clough will not be pushing anyone hard in training.

“The win over Swindon sets us up nicely for Saturday,” he said.

“I think we are on the road with what seems to be all away games once we've played Walsall on Saturday – which is going to be a different prospect for us.

“There will be very little playing this week for those in the starting XI.

“The programme between now and Saturday will just be about recovery like it was on Monday.

“It was a heavy surface again on Tuesday with the rain we've had, but we will just ask the players to repeat the performance again on Saturday.

“We have 23 to go now so we are only halfway through our league games and there is plenty to play for.”

A win for the Stags on Saturday could finally ease them into the play-off positions.

Skipper Ollie Clarke will be hoping to complete a whole game on Saturday after his recent lay-off.

“Against Swindon, Ollie was just cramping up with his calf which has been a problem,” said Clough.

“He is still building up but can't quite get through 90 minutes.”