Mansfield Town defender Ryan Sweeney can’t explain why results are better away from home

As Mansfield Town aim for a third win in a row in the second of four away games in succession at Macclesfield tomorrow, defender Ryan Sweeney said it was a mystery why Stags have been unable to match their fine away record at home, where results have been poor.
Picture: Andrew Roe/AHPIX LTD, Football, Leasing.com Trophy, Burton Albion v Mansfield Town, Pierlli Stadium, Burton-Upon-Trent, UK, 12/11/19, K.O 7.45pm

Mansfield's Ryan Sweeney heads his side 2 nil up
Howard Roe>07973739229Picture: Andrew Roe/AHPIX LTD, Football, Leasing.com Trophy, Burton Albion v Mansfield Town, Pierlli Stadium, Burton-Upon-Trent, UK, 12/11/19, K.O 7.45pm

Mansfield's Ryan Sweeney heads his side 2 nil up
Howard Roe>07973739229
Picture: Andrew Roe/AHPIX LTD, Football, Leasing.com Trophy, Burton Albion v Mansfield Town, Pierlli Stadium, Burton-Upon-Trent, UK, 12/11/19, K.O 7.45pm Mansfield's Ryan Sweeney heads his side 2 nil up Howard Roe>07973739229

“It’s quite hard to put a finger on it as I don’t think we set up too differently away from home,” he said.

“We’re always a team that want to play on the front foot, whether that’s home or away.

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“I think we’ve got some great players to use if we choose to play on the counter attack – CJ (Hamilton) has got the pace to work people, Otis (Khan) as well.

“We have a game plan for each game and we try to implement that to the best of our ability. We have the quality in the dressing room to be able to change formations too.”

Sweeney added: “At the end of the day it’s a game of football whether it’s home or away.

“For some reason this season we seemed to have picked up a lot more points on the road than we have at home.

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“We are not a million miles off it. It’s just about eradicating little things in the game like individual mistakes, and working from a solid base, I think it will give us a good foundation for the rest of the season.

“We have scored a lot of goals this season but conceded too many, so that’s something we are working on in training.”

One of the biggest differences from last season is that Stags are conceding more goals and Sweeney said: “It’s been disappointing, especially when you look at last season – our defensive record was so good.

“But we haven’t really had a proper, settled backline throughout the season via suspensions, injuries and what not, so I think once we get a solid defensive line and a solid unit there it’ll be something to build on for the rest of the season.

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“We’ve played a four a bit more in recent weeks – it’s something you’ve got to be adaptable to because we’ve got the players and personnel to change formation from a three to a four.

“We’ve got good players and the club and it’s just about showing that on a matchday and then hopefully we can improve that defensive record and get some clean sheets.”

At the other end, Sweeney was the matchwinner at Burton on Tuesday and smiled: “It’s always nice to score; now I’ve got a couple of goals in the last few games. Before the first one (against Colchester United) I hadn’t scored in nearly a year so it’s funny to see two goals come in such quick concession.

“We managed to get through the FA Cup game against Chorley, which was really positive, and then obviously Tuesday was one where we wanted to progress. We knew we had to go to Burton and win the game.

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“The lads put in a really good, solid performance, especially the young lads stepping in – I thought Clarkey (James Clarke) and Ali (Alistair Smith) in particular were brilliant. It was a really positive way to start the week and hopefully we can take that into Saturday.”

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