Stags’ boss Adam Murray is confident that his side can continue their good form into this weekend’s game at home to Plymouth Argyle (3pm).
The Pilgrims currently lie third in the Sky Bet League Two table and Murray knows that his side will need to be at their best to compete with last season’s play-off semi-finalists.
“We’re going to have to be on our mettle, we’re going to have to stay focussed and keep concentrated for 90-odd minutes. It’ll be one of those games where we’re going to have to be at our best but I think our performances through 70% of the season have been good," Murray said.
“The signings they’ve brought in over the summer have made them a more efficient outfit. It’ll be a test for us on Saturday but we’re confident going into it. We went to Luton [last Saturday] believing we could win and we believe we can beat these on Saturday too.”
Following the Stags’ 4-0 victory over Crawley Town during their last home outing, Murray wants his side to assert their authority on the game against Plymouth on Saturday.
“We’re at home so we’ll want to set the tempo but we’ll do it in a structured way. We’re going to have to be aware of their threats but we have to understand that we’ve got a lot of threats in our own team.
“There’ll be certain people who are ‘let off their leash’ to set the tempo for us but at the same time we’ll be defensively organised and we’ll have an infrastructure in place to deal with their threats.”
The gaffer is pleased with the performances of his side so far this season but now wants results to reflect that consistently.
“I think our form has been good. Our performances, especially away from home, have been excellent so we want to keep building on that. We want our performances and our results to mirror each other and my ethos is if the process is right then the results will come.
“This season’s all about progressing and as long as I see that then I’ll be happy.”
Murray is hoping for the Stags’ fans to turn out in their droves again this weekend and says that it is important that they work in tandem with the team, he said: “It’s a two-way thing. I think there are times where we have to get them going and there’s times where they need to get us going.
“You have off-days and you rely on them to kick you in and some days they have off-days and we have to kick them in with our performances so it’s a joint venture, the fans know that.
“We wanted to set out this season as a progressive season where we’re continuously seeing steps forward and we see not only the team but the football club growing and I think that’s happening.”
The full news conference will be on Stags Player later.
