Mansfield Town

Midfield playmaker expects tough encounter on Saturday.

Midfielder Fergus Bell is relishing Saturday’s visit of in-form Cambridge United, having resumed training today for the first time since being knocked cold in our draw at Portsmouth.

Bell was one of our stand-out performers in the match at Fratton Park, but was replaced by Rob Taylor in the closing stages, prior to receiving medical treatment for concussion.

Reflecting on his memories of the game, Bell laughed: “I remember the first half quite well, but after a knock, the second half is a bit of a blur.

“I seem to remember that we played quite well and maybe we could have nicked [a win] in the end, but all in all I think it was a good performance to build on for this week.

“I’ve got to say thanks to the medical team at Portsmouth. The doctors were fantastic and I spent a long time with them after the game.

“I had a bit of an issue seeing from my left eye and that’s always a concern after a bump on the head, but they cleared me after about an hour and everything was okay in the end.”

The 23-year-old continued: “I’m getting a bit of stick at the minute as I can’t seem to get through 90 minutes without [picking up] some sort of injury.

“I had a bit of a knock to my ankle against Exeter and then there is my shoulder.

“Obviously, everyone goes in whole-hearted to tackles and challenges and I think there is a fine line between going in over-zealous and over-enthusiastically and being careful and looking after your own body.

“I’m sort of finding that line. We do a lot of pre-hab, which is injury prevention, with the physio, and they might be knocks, but hopefully they’re not going to be long-term.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, Bell is expecting a tough test against a Cambridge United team who have won their last two matches and will arrive at One Call Stadium full of confidence.

“I’ve got a friend who plays for Cambridge as right-winger, Ryan Donaldson, and they’ve been really strong movers in the leagues,” said Bell.

“Last year, they had a fantastic season. Their squad clearly had a lot of quality for the Conference [Premier] and they’ve taken that form into the [Football] League.

“We were watching their game on the bus on the way to our game last week, and they just blew their opposition [Oxford United] out of the water.

“I think they’ve got some good players, no doubt. They play with a lot of physicality, but they’ve also got good pace.”

He added: “We’ve beaten teams in similar positions to them in the league and there’s no doubt, as you’ve seen over the years in League Two, anyone can beat anyone.

“Confidence is high with us this week. It’s a really good test and if we can put in the same kind of performance as we did at Portsmouth, we’ll no doubt get a positive result – and it’ll be nice to do it here in front of our own fans.”

“I expect a tough game and a very physical one at that.”