Mansfield Town

Boss looking to add to squad ahead of trip to Wycombe Wanderers.

Manager Paul Cox has confirmed that he may look to enter negotiations with an un-named player, who has been on trial with the club.

Our boss, who was speaking at his press conference ahead of Saturday’s Sky Bet League Two match at Wycombe Wanderers, is hoping to add to his squad as soon as possible.

“We’ll hopefully sit down over the next 24 hours and talk with one, maybe two, players and see if we can bolster the numbers for Saturday,” said Cox.

He continued: “We know that we’ve been given the go ahead to get one, maybe two, players in, but we’ve got to make sure that they’re the right ones.

“We’re sifting through the players that haven’t got a club yet, as well as the players that are available in the loan market, so we’ve just got to get on with it.

“Everyone at the football club is working extremely hard to try and bolster the numbers and hopefully we can get the right players in at the right price and in the right timescale.”

Our boss was also pleased with the displays of a number of displays from young players, trialists and first team members in a behind-closed-doors match with Worksop Town earlier this week, which we won 3-1.

“I was impressed by one or two of the trialists that came in – even though they’ve got good pedigrees anyway, and the young players we put in,” said Cox.

“It was a good 90 minutes blow for the players that maybe haven’t played as much football as we’d have liked.”

He continued: “I wasn’t bothered about the result, because it was competitive and that’s all I wanted. Sometimes you can have these behind-closed-doors games and both teams fizzle out after a bit, but this was a good game.

“It was fast, it was furious and we got a good look at individuals and it was positive all the way round.”

Meanwhile, up to as many as five players could miss the trip to Adams Park through injury.

Defender Ritchie Sutton is rated as 50/50, whilst midfielder Simon Heslop is a doubt having aggravated a foot injury sustained in last week’s Johnstone’s Paint Trophy defeat at Notts County.

However, there is some positive news as Fergus Bell, who limped off in the second half of the 2-1 victory at Exeter City, has resumed training today.

“’Sutts’ [Ritchie Sutton] is touch and go. We’re not exactly sure whether he’ll be fit and it’s something that we’ll have to deal with because there’s only another two fit centre-halves at the club,” said Cox.

He continued: “[Simon Heslop] had a couple of stitches in his foot during the game at Notts County and that’s got a little bit infected and opened up.

“He’s another strong boy, a good player, and one where if we’re not going to have him in the squad for Saturday, then he’ll be sorely missed.”

A full interview with Paul Cox will be available on Stags Player later today. To subscribe, click here.