Nigel Clough praises ‘encouraging’ Mansfield Town win over Alfreton Town as end of pre-season approaches
Nigel Clough said Mansfield Town’s 4-0 win over Alfreton Town on Tuesday night was ‘encouraging’ as they near the end of pre-season.
Stags enjoyed another ‘good workout’ on the road on Tuesday thanks to goals from Rhys Oates, George Maris and Stephen McLaughlin. Mansfield took a 2-0 lead in the first half at the Solana Stadium thanks to Oates’ brace.
Players are now building their minutes up ahead of the start of the 2026/27 season, with just one friendly left against Derby County at the One Call Stadium. Nigel Clough changed his line-up on 70 minutes to rotate the squad.
“Baily Cargill came off with a little bit of a tight hamstring. He’s the only concern,” the manager confirmed at the end of the match. Stags were also without first choice goalkeeper Liam Roberts, who is currently out with a slight back problem.
“Liam Roberts is okay, he’s just had a little bit of a stiff back in the last week or so,” Clough said. “He hasn’t done much training, so we are just being very cautious with him. He won’t feature on Friday but we’re hoping he’ll be okay for Sheffield United.”
Clough was inspired by his team’s performance against Alfreton, which marks their second pre-season win after beating Retford United 2-1. Stags lost 4-3 to Barrow on July 18th.
“Everything,” the manager said when asked what he found encouraging from the Alfreton win. “I thought we played some good stuff, scored some good goals and had plenty of chances as well. It was a very good workout again for us.”
Clough also shed some light on Mansfield Town’s current transfer situation. After bringing in David McGoldrick and Michael Smith, Stags are on the market for a midfielder but talks with a previous target recently fell through.
“Everything is pretty quiet at the moment. We’re very happy with the squad that we’ve got but another midfielder to add to it would be good, so we will keep working on that. But I thought Elliott Hewitt did well in midfield tonight,” Clough said.
“He’s still primarily a defender but if we are short on midfielders, he’s shown tonight he can do the job.”
Stags final pre-season fixture will take place on Friday, July 31st against Derby County at home.
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