Mansfield Town

Defender Ben Turner says that the Stags were unfortunate not to win Tuesday evening's encounter away to Crawley Town with the chances they created.

The centre-back completed 90 minutes of the 0-0 draw and was a key performer in the Mansfield side.

Turner says the Stags got ‘back to basics’ after a ‘sticky spell’ away from home, and will take the positives as they currently sit third in the Sky Bet League Two standings.

“I think today we improved a lot,” he said. “We just lacked that goal that would’ve got us the three points. We’re emphasising the positives because we’ve had a sticky spell away.

“We were fighting for each other throughout the 90 minutes. We got to basics in that respect, and the whole team earned the clean sheet.

“We created some chances which unfortunately didn’t go in – I don’t think the finishes were too bad at all. Tyler [Walker] deserved a goal for his run, but his shot hit the inside of the post and somehow bounced back out.

“It just didn’t quite go in for us, but it’s definitely something to build on. I thought we had the clear cut chances and were solid.

“We probably deserved it [win]. The gaffer is happy with us. We’ve come off the pitch and found out we’ve gained a point on MK [Dons], now it’s onto Lincoln.

“Gaining a promotion is not easy. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. It’s a point in the right direction.”

"We were fighting for each other throughout the 90 minutes. We got to basics in that respect, and the whole team earned the clean sheet."

The 31-year-old reflected on his personal performance, and says he sees this evening’s display as ‘the night that got his Stags’ career going.’

“The Notts County game, I had only trained for a couple of days, so it was probably a bit early for me but I wanted to play,” he explained.

“Obviously I came on the other day [Port Vale] in an away performance that wasn’t good enough. It was very difficult coming on in that environment.

“It’s nice to start again with lots of training under my belt now and get a clean sheet. I feel like this is the night that’s got my Stags’ career going, as it were.”

Next Monday, the Stags welcome Lincoln City to One Call Stadium for a 7.45pm kick-off, a clash that will be shown live on Sky Sports.

Turner says that the Mansfield players are excited by the match.

“It’s exciting [Mansfield against Lincoln being shown live on Sky Sports]. The lads can look forward to that and I’m sure there’ll be a few fresh haircuts and whatnot from the younger lads!

“We’re looking forward to it. We know what they’re about and they’ll know what we’re about.

“Our home form has been strong, so we want to take that into the Lincoln game.

“Everyone wants to beat top of the league, and everyone wants to beat the teams that are up there. We’ve found that in our last few away games.

“They [Lincoln] are above us, so our intensity and organisation needs to be right. Our home form is good, so let’s take confidence from that.”

iFollow Stags subscribers can watch Ben Turner’s interview in full by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow.