Visit of leaders Crewe is the perfect yardstick for measuring Mansfield Town’s progress believes boss Graham Coughlan

Stags' bruising 2-1 win at Northampton last weekend extended the gap to the drop zone to 16 points with only 10 games left.

Coughlan now expects a very different game against Crewe and will use it to further assess which players he wants to keep and which areas may need strengthening this summer.

“I am looking forward to it,” he said. “It will be a really good yardstick. “It's great to be able to look at our players and see how far they've come and also see how far we are short as a football club of being potential promotion contenders or potential champions.

“We will have a look and, after the game, we will certainly make assessments.

“I think will be a good game and a really good gauge to find out where we are and how far we need to go.”

Coughlan is also hoping his players can finally achieve back-to-back wins for him for the first time since he took over.

“Let's be straight, we've been here before,” he said. “We have won four or five games and I have asked for back-to-back victories that haven't happened.

“We will be asking for that again this weekend. That might give us a foundation – a platform or a springboard – to get going.

“The lads know what we want. Yes, they are buying in, they all are on board and working extremely hard.”

Coughlan knows how tough it will be against the division's top goalscorers on Saturday.

“This Saturday you will see more football and a more technical side in Crewe, who are top of the table and deservedly so,” he said.

“They have some very good players who are dangerous on their day. They score for fun and they are tough to break down.

“We will give it our all and try our best. But we've fallen way short of Crewe this season, not only in quality but also in goals scored and goals conceded – both ends of the park and both boxes.

“They are free-flowing and they've got goals all over the park, similar to Swindon. They score goals for fun and they are tough to break down.

“They play off two or three touch, quick, short, sharp passes to try to suck you in and play around and beyond the press. So it will be tricky and tough.

“But it's an exciting encounter to have top of the table coming to our back yard.

“The league table does not lie. They are where they are and we are where we are for obvious reasons.”

Injured pair Alex MacDonald and Matt Preston both came through yesterday's 2-0 home reserves defeat by Grimsby Town unscathed and look set to make a return into Saturday's squad.

That leaves just Kellan Gordon on the treatment table.

“It was good to get the two of them some game time,” said boss Coughlan. “Fingers crossed they come back into our squad this weekend.

“Kellan Gordon is not too far off now either, hopefully we'll have him back in the next couple of weeks.”