Stags’ boss Adam Murray wants his side to continue their defensive solidity as the season progresses.
Only Wycombe Wanderers have conceded less goals than the Stags so far this season and that is one record that Murray wants to keep come the end of the campaign.
“We’ve got one of the best defensive records in the league and I want to be top of that league because if we get that organisation then the rest will come. We’re going to create chances and we’re going to score goals and we showed that on Saturday without taking them.
“There’s only one team in the league that have conceded less goals than us, we’ve scored just as many goals as teams in the play-offs, if not more, so what a great position [to be in]. We’ve got to understand that we can’t go to anywhere away and expect to go ‘gung-ho’.
“We’re in a good place and we’re looking solid.”
Despite losing 1-0 to a Craig Mackail-Smith penalty at Luton Town on Saturday, Murray says there are positives to be taken from the performance.
“With the ball, we probably didn’t get our rhythm going but defensively we were solid like we knew we were going to have to be and in the second half we probably should’ve got something out of it.
“I’m really pleased with our progress and I’m really pleased with big parts of our performance on Saturday, so it’s a positive.”
The gaffer says that prior to becoming a manager he struggled to see the positives from a defeat, but he sees it more clearly now he’s stood on the touchline.
“I’ve never understood before that managers come out of games in a positive frame of mind after losing, but I get that now,” Murray said.
“There were lots of pleasing things for me on Saturday and the progression, from where we were, is massive.”
In other news, the gaffer revealed has taken a step back from social media since taking charge of the Stags last November, but he does admit to using Twitter on occasions to gauge popular opinion on different matters.
“I love Twitter. I’m not a ‘tweeter’ but as an educational purpose it’s fantastic because you get some real good stuff on there that you can read and pick up on.
“You look at the way we give our players information and that’s via iPads and iPhones because the game is moving forward rapidly and I’ve not got a problem with that. It’s keeping the focus of the way we look and how we determine things because the way the game is now, you have to be structured and you have to be organised.”
Murray revealed at this morning’s news conference that the club are still awaiting a verdict on the injury sustained by Chris Clements against Luton, but the boss believes that he has sufficient cover to replace the midfielder if he does have a spell on the sidelines.
“With a small squad when you do get injuries and suspensions you have to deal with it and that’s what we’ll do. Our recruitment enabled us to sign players who can play in various positions and do well there.
“Jack’s (Thomas) been super in training and he’s probably been a bit unlucky not to get his call a little bit earlier [in the season[ but we’ve got Mitch Rose who can play in there and do an exceptional job, we’ve got Jamie McGuire who we’ve not seen yet and we all know what he can do, so we’ve got people who can step in there and do the job.”
To hear more from the Stags' manager from this morning's press meeting, log in to Stags Player.
