Stockport visit begins crucial run of games for in-form Mansfield Town

Paul Cox’s in-form Mansfield Town men face a crucial batch of matches, starting with Stockport County at home tomorrow afternoon (3pm).

After that, Stags face three matches in the space of a week, all against sides in the top six - Grimsby, Forest Green and Wrexham.

“This is football. It’s a million miles away from anything being done (achieving a play-off place),” said Murray at this morning’s press meeting ahead of tomorrow’s game.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“We have a lot of big games to play and, especially with the way this league has been this season, anything can happen. There are a lot of points to play for and we just have to make sure we do our job.

“We’ve said to the boys that if we don’t quite make it for some reason it will be because someone else will have been awesome, not because we’ve messed up – as long as we do our job and stay focussed, we’ll be okay.”

With attendances steadily on the rise at One Call Stadium, Murray is hoping that the crowd numbers will keep going up.

He said: “I know this place better than most and I know that if we give them (the supporters) a little success then they’ll come out in their numbers. We have a lot of cup finals coming up, and the more people we can get through the doors the better. They act like a 12th man.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The Stags are on a superb run of six straight wins and 10 wins in their last 11 outings. In contrast, visiting Stockport, looking over their shoulders at the drop zone in 17th place, have failed to win in their last five games, losing three of them.

Louis Briscoe, who passed a fitness test to bag a goal at Woking in midweek, still has a tight glute muscle and, although he has been resting it up since Tuesday, he remains a doubt with Lindon Meikle an obvious replacement.

John Dempster is likely to miss out again with his injured ankle.

But the good news is that striker Jake Speight is now back in full training after injury and could play in a reserve fixture next week.

Related topics: