Stags’ boss Adam Murray says he wants his side to build on their opening two Sky Bet League Two performances and keep ‘pushing up the league’ ahead of the visit of Yeovil Town this evening (7.45pm).
The Stags followed up their 3-2 opening day victory over Newport County with a 1-1 draw at home to Cheltenham Town on Saturday, which has cemented them among the early-season pacesetters.
Murray’s men currently lie fifth in Sky Bet League Two after two fixtures and although the season is still in its early stages, the manager says he wants to continue to climb the league table.
“We’ll focus on what we’re about, we want to build on the performances we’ve had so far and we want to keep pushing up the league,” Murray said.
“Even though it’s early on, we like being ‘up there’ so we want to stay ‘up there’. We know that we’re going to have to play at a high tempo, the work rate’s going to have to be very high but we’re in a good place.
“They (Yeovil) got a good result on Saturday, they’ve had two results now, three good results with the cup game, so it’s going to be another tough one for us but we’ll focus on us.”
Our 34-year-old manager says that the Glovers are ‘a different animal’ under boss Darren Way after he took over from Paul Sturrock midway through last season.
“I think Daz (Darren Way) has done a great job down there. He’s a football guy, I know he works very hard and he’s got a very good team down there; he’s put a good unit together. [They’re] very organised, he’s got some good attacking threats and a great team spirit.
“They didn’t have the best of starts last year, but when Daz took over they were a different team.
“I think they had half a season not up to their standards but don’t forget this team was a League One side not so long ago. They’ve done very well so I think they’re going to be a strong team this year, they’ve got a lot of attributes and they’ve had a good start.”
Meanwhile, Stags defender Krystian Pearce and striker Pat Hoban returned to training yesterday and Murray says the duo give him different options in regard to team selection.
“Pearcey’s in a good place, he gives us another option which is good. We looked at a couple of things – the three at the back for certain games – and Pearcey allows us to do that.
“Jack’s (Thomas) probably going to be another week, maybe a little bit longer, and Pat’s in a good place as well, so that’s another good bonus for us.
“We’ve got a couple that we’re really happy with. Obviously we had Hendo (Darius Henderson) get minutes on Saturday; I thought he looked really strong, he gives us another option, so he’s ready to go.”
Supporters can view Adam Murray’s news conference on Stags PlayerHD.
