Pearce suspension a blessing in disguise?

Pearce has been battling on with Achille’s tendon problems, so the chance to ease up on training and put his feet up for a game at such a crucial stage of the season could benefit him and the team.

Manager David Flitcroft said: “The fact that he is suspended has given us a chance to offload him.

“It’s good to be able to give him some recovery time to heal.

“He has been carrying an Achille’s injury that he has comprehensive work done on most days.

“We have given him some down time. He’s still been working and doing his CV work, but he’s come off the training pitch. He’s not pounding around.

“It’s one of those injuries that when a season gets to this sort of level, in terms of nearly 40 games played, for a player like Pearcey sometimes less is more. We are certainly taking that approach with him this week.”

Now Stags are hoping Zander Diamond will have shaken off an injury of his own to be able to replace him against Accrington Stanley on Friday afternoon.

“Zander came through a good back end of the week and today is an important training session for him,” said Flitcroft.

“We will assess him today and we will see where he is after the session with a view to potentially starting him on Friday.”