Left-back Mal Benning believes Stags didn’t get the lucky breaks they needed during this afternoon’s 0-0 draw at home to Colchester United.
Manager Steve Evans’ men dominated the majority of the game but couldn’t find a way past a resolute U’s defence.
And Benning, who is in his second season with the club, believes a contributing factor to the 0-0 draw was the ball dropping to an opposition defender rather than a Stags’ forward.
“We controlled the game. It’s just that little bit of, when we cross the ball, it needs to land on one of our heads, we need to pick one of our players out,” Benning said.
“I think it was alright, the final ball in to the box. It wasn’t as if it was getting cut out by the first man. It was one of them where we need to pick out a player instead of landing it one of their heads.
“We just needed that one little bit of luck, I think, to get in front of goal. I feel if went one [up], we would have got a couple more but it’s just one of those days.”
Stags are currently sitting 13th in Sky Bet League Two and the former Walsall left-back says a small number of favourable results will catapult the Stags up the table, such is the density of the division.
“As you can probably see, the table’s really tight. We only need one win and we’ll shoot straight back up, but we’ll be working towards that.
“League Two is like that, as we saw that last year as well. We just need to get a couple of wins and we’ll shoot straight up.
“A clean sheet is always nice but at the end of the day, it gives us a platform to build on. Everyone’s involved in winning a game and hopefully scoring a goal.”
Last year’s Goal of the Season winner believes the players have reacted positively since the arrival of manager Steve Evans.
“Everyone knows about what he brings, passion and whatnot, and everyone knows about him so obviously the players have reacted to him and I think we’ve reacted well.
“As I said in the programme, it’s pressure but it’s good pressure because obviously it’s bringing the best out of players.”
Benning went on to thank the fans for their support after being named as the sponsors’ Man-of-the-Match for his energetic display on the left-hand side of the Stags’ defence.
“The fans are very good. They’ve got my backing a lot which I appreciate and you could hear them today and in the last two games and it does give the players a boost, but unfortunately we couldn’t get the win for them.”
Supporters can view Mal Benning’s post-match interview on Stags PlayerHD.
