Assistant manager Lee Glover says there is plenty of ‘positive energy’ within the Stags’ camp after the amber and blue progressed to the next stages of the Emirates FA Cup and Leasing.com Trophy this week.
Mansfield recorded a 1-0 victory over Chorley at One Call Stadium on Saturday, progressing to the second round of the FA Cup, then later advanced to the knockout stages of the Leasing.com Trophy with a 2-1 victory away at Burton Albion on Tuesday evening.
Speaking at Thursday morning’s news conference at The RH Academy – the club’s training facility – Stags’ assistant boss discussed the confidence-building week so far.
“We were very happy to progress in both competitions [Emirates FA Cup and Leasing.com Trophy],” he told iFollow Stags. “It was always going to be a difficult game [against Chorley].
“The non-league sides now, a lot of them are full-time. It was a difficult game and I thought the lads applied themselves really well.
“We didn’t get an early goal, but we stuck at it, got the win and got in the hat for the next round, which is very important.
“Against Burton we made a few changes. We shuffled the pack and it was great to get through with a great performance on the night.
“There’s a bit of confidence in the camp, which victories help with. We’ve been encouraged by the way we’ve moved the ball and we are creating chances. A clean sheet is obviously something that we’d like more often.
“There has been an upturn over the last six or seven weeks in our performance levels and we’ve picked up some points. There is a good feel about the group.
“There is a lot of positive energy around the group and we think people are hitting form and performance levels are good. Me and the gaffer [John Dempster] have to enhance that and push it forward.
“We’re trying to encourage competition for places and with performances like that [against Burton], the whole group can see that if people don’t do the business, there’s other people waiting who can step in.
“Individually there were some very good performances and that gives the gaffer a bit of a headache – but a nice one.”
Ahead of Mansfield’s trip to face Macclesfield in Sky Bet League Two on Saturday, Lee offered sympathy towards the Silkmen’s current predicament, but ensured that the Stags are fully focused on achieving victory in Cheshire.
“It’s a terrible situation for the club and the players [at Macclesfield],” he added. “We’re just thankful for the owners that we have here that we don’t have to go through that.
“I can imagine it’s very difficult for all the staff at a football club when they’re not getting paid.
“There will be people working in the background of that club that aren’t getting paid – it’s a very difficult situation for everyone.
“I have massive respect and empathy for what they’re trying to do. But with it [football] being a ruthless business, we just want to go there and win, shake their hand afterwards and wish them all the best.
“We can’t affect what’s going on at that club – we can only focus on ourselves. We’ve won a couple of games on the bounce and we want to go for three.
“Being brutally honest and with all due respect, it doesn’t matter what side they [Macclesfield] play because we need to get ourselves right.
“We’ll make sure that everyone knows their roles and that we are going there to try and get a win. We’re not going there sympathetic to the predicament they’re in, that comes after the game at five o’clock.
“We need to try to look after ourselves and go there to get a positive result. It’s just totally about us.”
The assistant manager revealed that the Stags will have an almost fully fit squad available for Saturday’s match, which could include captain Krystian Pearce (below).
However, the game will likely come too soon for wing-back Hayden White.
“I think he [Krystian Pearce] will train today,” said Glover. “He’s been back doing a bit and he’s looking like he could come into contention [for Macclesfield game].
“I think it [game] will do [come too soon for Hayden White]. He [White] has had a couple of days running to see how the injury reacts.
“Hopefully it’s calm and he can continue progressing – but he’s another one that we’d like to get fit.
“There are a couple of lads [with slight knocks] but there’s nothing too major at the moment. We just have to be careful with them, but I don’t think there are any doubts. We’ll have pretty much a full squad for Saturday.
“We should have a lot of bodies to choose from. Hopefully the lads will come through the next couple of days so we have a nice squad [for Macclesfield].”
iFollow Stags subscribers can watch Lee’s interview in full by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow later today.
