Nigel Clough praises Mansfield Town fans for clocking up the miles following the team

rThe Stags faithful face a 340 mile round trip to Sutton United on Saturday, just a week after an even longer trek to Crawley in the club’s last away fixture.

“Any time the supporters travel away from home that sort of distance, especially at this time of the year, we are incredibly appreciative of it,” he said.

“The way the fixtures have fallen to give us those two trips, a week before Christmas, doesn't say an awful lot for the concerns of the supporters.

“It cost them a lot of time and money to get down to Crawley. We are even more appreciative for those who went and we felt the responsibility to get a result.”

Stags face a busy spell of games over the festive period with home games against Grimsby Town and Doncaster Rovers sandwiched between trips to Sutton United and Stockport County on New Year's Day.

“I don’t think many, if any, will play four games in 9 days - apart from maybe Christy (Pym) - so we have to be aware of that schedule, especially when we have played one game in 3.5 weeks and then suddenly it's four games in nine days,” added Clough.

“It won't decide our fate but there are a lot of points at stake in a short space of time.”