Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray has stressed that his side will ‘fight until the end’ as they enter the final third of the Sky Bet League Two season.
The Stags are seventh in the division despite the weekend’s 3-0 defeat to Plymouth Argyle, which was their first loss in five matches.
Speaking in this morning’s news conference, Murray was keen to move on from Saturday’s encounter and start thinking about the next few weeks.
“We’ve got some big games coming up and we’ve got to focus straight away on them. I enjoyed the game [against Plymouth] because it was a good leveller of where we’re at and what we need to do. We’re not quite there yet but we’re still a very good team.
“I’m trying not to look at the table because it’s that close; it’s pointless at the minute. All the teams around us have got to play each other.”
With many of Stags’ rivals having games in hand, he added: “I’m glad we’ve got the points on the board and we’re not having to catch games up. I think that’ll work as a bonus. It’s going to go to the wire but what a great position to be in. We’re going to fight until the end.”
Furthermore, the gaffer firmly believes that the Stags must not become disheartened about their defeat to the Pilgrims, with plenty of points to play for in their mission to finish as high as possible this season.
“There were some real tired bodies at the end. We had people coming over to the bench asking for energy gels. They were running on empty but it’ll do them the world of good getting games under their belts going into the last little bit [of the season] now.
“The thing I’ve learned over the past 18 months is that you’ve got to keep a realism during wins and losses. We’re joint fifth on points, we’re having a great season. If we get too low when you lose to Plymouth, it affects the rest of your season.”
Looking ahead to the fixture against lowly Dagenham & Redbridge at One Call Stadium on Saturday, Murray has urged his players to remain in the ascendency when they get on top of their opponents.
“These games are always tricky ones. We’ve got to focus on us. What we’ve done over the last few weeks is that we’ve been very organised and disciplined; very focused and very professional.
“Our possession count has dropped over the past few weeks but we’ve won more games so the thing for us at the minute is getting the right balance. We know we can cause teams problems but we need to make sure that we stay in control of games.”
As Mansfield head into the final 14 games of the campaign, Murray believes his players must chase maximum points in all of their remaining fixtures and not fear failure.
“We’re coming into the part of the season where points are everything and records and trends go out of the window. Every game is an individual game now.
“It’s about winning or losing now, it’s not about drawing games. The pleasing thing at Plymouth was that we had a go. You’re better off winning one and losing one, and going on that trend; that’ll get you higher in the table.”
Adam Murray’s full news conference is now available to watch on Stags Player.
