Mansfield Town must put 'frustrating' first half of season behind them - Ollie Clarke

Ollie Clarke wants Mansfield Town to put their 'frustrating' first half of the season behind them and climb the League Two table.

The Stags will end 2020 21st in the standings, just three points clear of the bottom two.

"The league table says it's been a disappointing first half of the season really," the Town skipper admitted.

"It's not how we anticipated starting and it's not what we wanted to do.

"Unfortunately that's the way things panned out."

However, with 26 league games left to play and just 10 points separating Mansfield and Walsall, 10 places above them in the table, Clarke remains optimistic a good run can transform the season.

"There's still plenty of games to go," Clarke added.

"The sooner we put points on the board it gives us a bit more momentum.

"It's about getting that belief in this group of players. I think we've struggled with confidence and had different injuries at different times and not really got ourselves going.

"It's been frustrating for everyone involved."

When Nigel Clough first arrived at One Call Stadium he demanded Town begin turning defeats into draws and draws into wins.

While results have improved, Town are still eager for more victories.

To date, they have drawn 11 times this season. Clarke believes a little more ruthlessness will help.

He said: "When you look at the games where we've conceded late goals, we've given ourselves half a chance and somehow conceded in the last 5-10 minutes by not being ruthless enough, dealing with balls in the box or tracking runners.

"It's simple individual errors really."