Massive four days looming for Mansfield Town

Having only picked up one point from the two clashes against fellow strugglers Oldham Athletic and Carlisle United, 21st-placed Stags head for 23rd-placed Morecambe on Saturday before a game at 18th-placed Leyton Orient on Tuesday.

Stags are nine points clear of the drop with 15 games to go, and assistant boss Joe Dunne said: “Yes, you can look over your shoulder.

“But you can also look in front of you and it's the same distance points-wise to 11th.

“If you can continue to look forward with positive results you can move quickly move up the table. That's a fact, though of course there is an opposite to that.”

He continued: “Taking points off teams around you is important.

“We've got Morecambe on Saturday and Leyton Orient on Tuesday on the back of Oldham and Carlisle, so we're in a bundle of games in which we're all playing each other.

“To say the game does not have extra significance would be wrong. It gives you the opportunity to create a gap or drag more people towards you.

“In the position we're in, all of a sudden we could be mid-table.

“We are in February now, so they are tough games as the importance of the games is a bit higher as you are on the run-in.

“Some people might want to put added pressure on those games, but we need to stay focused.

“Our performances are there and we think we're going to win games.

“Put a consistent run together with two or three wins on the bounce and all of a sudden the league table completely changes”

Wins have also been hard to come by for Derek Adams' Morecambe side, but Dunne said: “We expect a tough game.

“They have an experienced manager and have got players there that I have worked with before.

“We have to go there with the confidence we can win.”

Last weekend Stags let a 2-0 lead slip in the last nine minutes against Carlisle and Dunne said: “The stand-out point will be the disappointment of the equalising goal. It was preventable and symptomatic of the errors we have made in previous games.

“But we can't dwell as the league changes very quickly. The next game is what's important.

“We all feel it emotionally the same as the fans. The key thing is to stay positive and move forward.

“It was two points lost. But we do have to keep the points board ticking over – it was another point and they all help at the end of the day.”

Morecambe boss Derek Adams said: "This week on the training field allows us to get the group back together.

"When you're playing games all the time it's about recovery more than anything else, but this week it's about getting the players prepared for Mansfield on Saturday. We're topping up the ones that need extra fitness work and fine-tuning the ones who've been in the team.”