Nigel Clough admits which Mansfield Town player role is 'still up for grabs' this season

The Mansfield Town manager has a long road of player decisions ahead of him this season, following the club’s fruitful transfer window so far.

Including the permanent signing of Jon Russell, Stags have brought in five new recruits this summer to bolster their midfield and attacking ranks.

Veterans David McGoldrick and Michael Smith have arrived with experience in abundance, while 24-year-old Liam Thompson has already shown how he can orchestrate both creative and defensive play in the middle of the park.

Owen Dodgson is the latest new face to arrive at the One Call Stadium, replacing Will Evans after his move to Plymouth Argyle.

So far, fans have only seen Smith up front in League One, as McGoldrick picked an injury ahead of their opener against Doncaster Rovers. Both he and Tyler Roberts are currently out and are yet to feature in the league this season.

Clough has deployed Smith and Rhys Oates as strike partners in Stags’ last two games and the duo have been working well together.

Oates scored Mansfield’s first goal of the season against Doncaster and then turned provider in the Peterborough clash when he set up Smith’s equaliser.

While being without McGoldrick and Roberts this early in the season isn’t ideal, Stags appear to be in good hands with the combination of Oates and Smith up front so far. Their performances may well have raised the competition for when the other two forwards are fit again.

“We always want to have three of the four strikers fit and then we’ve got Lucas Akins who can go up there, and Luke Bolton as well. But to lose two of them at the start of the season was a huge blow, but we’ve got no problem at all,” Clough said in his midweek press conference.

“Figuring out the best pairing, until we can look at them all, is still up for grabs as well. So it might well be Smith and Oates – both of them are scoring and setting up goals. David and Tyler are going to have to do well to get back into the team.”

Clough had a lot of praise for both Smith and Oates, and branded the latter as the player who poses the biggest threat for Stags.

Oates recently told Chad he is well aware of the level of competition at Mansfield Town this season and the team know rotations will be made as the games go on.

“It’s always important that whenever you play, you do your best for the team. We know things are going to rotate, there are so many games this season, players are going to rotate in every position so you need to make sure that you’re ready whenever your chance comes,” he said after the Doncaster match.