Mansfield Town

Our boss, who was speaking during his pre-match press conference ahead of Saturday’s trip to Torquay United, is keen to strengthen our midfield options.

“(Jack Blake) is a very good young player, who is tremendous on the ball,” said Cox.

“We’ve spoken to (Nottingham) Forest and we’re hoping to get something done, but at this minute nothing has been finalised.”

Cox was also pleased with the performance of our reserve side in their clash at Hull City earlier this week, but has decided not to pursue his interest in trialist Steve Jennings.

Jennings, who was sent-off for a second bookable offence in the latter stages of the 2-1 loss, featured in central midfield alongside Godfrey Poku.

“Steve has been in training this week, but we won’t be taking things any further, more so because Godfrey Poku’s performance on Tuesday was excellent,” said Cox.

“We came up against a really strong team, yet we finished the game with three youngsters at the back, alongside John McCombe.

“I thought that we were a bit unlucky and we had some great chances to win.”

Nevertheless, Paul Black (ankle) and Ryan Tafazolli (knee) are both expected to miss the trip to Torquay, because of injuries they sustained during the match in East Yorkshire.

Cox added: “It was a really good game for us. We acquitted ourselves really well, but came out with a few knocks. Paul Black and ‘Tafaz’ have both been doing well, so it’s a bit unfortunate for them.”