Mansfield Town

Defender Martin Riley is determined to put the errors in our defeat to Exeter City firmly behind him by helping our team to achieve a positive result against high-flying Wycombe Wanderers this weekend.

The Stags were on course to pick up at least a point at One Call Stadium last Saturday, until Exeter’s Dave Wheeler was brought down inside the six-yard box by Adam Smith, who was attempting to latch onto a back-pass by Riley, who has skippered our side in recent weeks.

Alex Nicholls converted the resulting penalty to give Exeter a surprising 3-2 victory.

Riley admits that it’s taken time to get the defeat out of his system, but remains professional and is eager than ever to prove a point in our next match.

“[The team has] had to get a defeat out of their systems and I’ve had to get a mistake out of my system,” said the defender. “We’re professionals and its part and parcel of football. It took me a few days to get over it, but I’m back to normal now.”

He continued: “It was ‘gutting’ for everyone – not least myself, because you take these things personally and I know that I let a lot of people down, but you’ve not got to beat yourself up about it.

“It’s football at the end of the day. There are a lot of highs and a lot of lows and you’ve got to make sure that you don’t get too high or low in different situations.”

Looking ahead to Saturday’s game, Riley said: “Obviously we know it’s going to be a tough game for us because they are where they are in the league table for a reason, but we honestly don’t fear anyone at the moment.

“There’s a great spirit within the camp and that was one of the things that I was delighted to see when I came in for training on Monday morning. 

“I didn’t want to see the boys or staff down about the result on Saturday, because there are so many good things happening at the moment and there is a good feeling in the camp.

“We’ve got to go out there and do what we did on Saturday, but put a few more chances away and cut out a couple of things at the back.”