Matt Somner believes it is only as matter of time before Mansfield Town start beating their fellow Blue Square Premier promotion contenders.

After Tuesday's defeat at Stevenage , the Stags have still won only once against a side in the top eight - their 2-1 home victory over Oxford United in October.

With most of their rivals at the top still to play again, midfielder Somner knows that record must improve.

But he feels Mansfield have the power to give one of the top dogs a good hiding.

"We are not worried about it because if you are going to do well, you have to beat teams from the top and the bottom of the league," said Somner.

 "We all know we are capable of doing that. We have a side and a squad strong enough to compete with anyone in this division.

"If you get in the play-offs then you are going to have to beat top sides to go up, so you can't be scared of them.

"Our record in games against other big teams might not be that great but if you look at the games, we have not been far off winning some of them.

"There is only a fine margin between success and failure in those matches.

"Things haven't always gone for us in those games, but I think they will improve before the end of the season."