Ryan Sweeney knows Mansfield Town must be up for the fight at Scunthorpe United

Mansfield begin a trio of festive games against United on Boxing Day with both sides scrapping for crucial League Two points.

And Sweeney knows his side will face a tough battle if they are to bring any points back home.

“They have picked up of late and they will be right up for it,” he said.

“It will be a physical battle like most League Two games and it's about doing the basics right that we probably didn't do in the first half on Saturday.

“We need to win the first contact and second balls and then go down and express ourselves. When you're struggling to get wins, the main thing is to express yourself.

“When you look at the performances as a whole over the last five to six weeks, I think they’ve been a lot better."

The defensive stalwart is also keen to end the year on a positive note following a disappointing first few months of the season.

“It’s been a bit of a hectic year with COVID and what’s gone on around the world. From a football point of view, it’s been strange,” he told iFollow Stags.

“We wanted to kick on from last season, and we were a bit disappointed, so that’s probably carried on into this season,” he added.

“We haven’t started as well as we would’ve wanted. But as we end the year, we want to end it on a positive note.

“We have a few games coming up now and that can set us up for the rest of the season. We’ve got Scunthorpe and Salford coming up before the end of the year and we want to finish the year positively.”

Mansfield could still be missing Nicky Maynard who is rated a doubt as he battles to recover from a knee injury.

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