Why Liam Roberts believes Mansfield Town can be a play-off chasing team next season

Stags have put the foundations in place this season to potentially mount a play-off push next season with Roberts proving to be an influential figure in that climb up the table.

And Roberts, who had kept 15 clean sheets ahead of the midweek trip to Peterborough, is confident it can be another good season at the One Call.

“Even when I joined I said it was an exciting time to be at the club and it genuinely is. It is such a good group from above the gaffer down to the players,” he said.

“I think as long as we keep as many of the core group as possible, then the play-offs is definitely an option next year.

“We had that mindset coming into this year but it has been a bizarre season. A few weeks ago we were looking at relegation and then we knitted some wins together and we are flying back up the table.

“It has been a bizarre league that has been so close and competitive.I am just really looking forward to going into next season.

“We need to get results in the next two games and then build on that next year. You want to finish as high as you can, you will always remember one of the last games you played and you don’t want to lose the last one because you don’t have any chance to put it right.

“It is all about the mindset, as a collective and as a group. We want to be proud of the table. “We want to be at least in the top half and progress to keep going as high up as we can.”

But Roberts knows any promotion challenge next season will be reliant on Stags being more ruthless against the so-called lesser teams.

“We are an open and honest enough bunch to know there have been games that have been missed opportunities and we look at them and think ‘we could be so much better than that,’ but that’s a good thing I think because we are striving to be better as a group,” he said.

“We have got an ethos in the changing room that we want to win every single game. There’s no-one to be afraid of, I think we have shown that all year.

“Can we now develop that next year? In certain games we have been on top of teams, can we go and score? Can we go and dominate them as much as we possibly can? Can we go on the front foot? I think things are really looking up.”

Stags will bring their campaign to an end on Saturday when they host already promoted Cardiff City.