Nigel Clough says Mansfield Town can take confidence into their trip to Carlisle United

The Cumbrians trounced Stevenage 4-0 at the weekend to go third in the table.

But Clough says Stags should go to Brunton Park with no fear having proved they can already compete against the division’s top teams following wins at Forest Green Rovers and Cambridge United.

“Carlisle will be full of confidence, they are the form team in the league with the way they are playing right now,” he said

“They are scoring goals and will see us as another great opportunity to get three poitns and cement their place in the top three.

We can take confidence and belief into the game that we can beat top six teams. If our performance level is as good as it was in those sort of games (Forest Green and Cambridge) then I don't see that much difference in the league that we can't go and get a result there.

“Hopefully we will play better than we did on Saturday and go get a result.”

Clough believes having another game so soon after Saturday could also benefit Mansfield and help them keep the momentum going.

“You get into a groove of playing Saturday/Tuesday/Saturday and then you don’t it can change the routine a bit and it can be difficult to get back into it.

“Sometimes the breaks are good but you can also have an impact like it did on Saturday when we were physically not as sharp as in the other games when we had three games in seven days.

“It is difficult to assess those sorts of things and the exact reason why it happens, we are all in the same boat at times.

“I’m pleased we didn lose when we are like that. It can be mental as well as physical, when you know you don’t have a game for six or seven days you can switch off a bit and then can’t pick it back up.”

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