Striker Danny Rose has attributed his fine start to the campaign to the freedom with which he is allowed to play under the stewardship of manager John Dempster.
The forward is currently the second highest scorer in Sky Bet League Two with six goals in just nine games.
Rose says that despite the Stags’ ‘tough’ start to the season, he is personally ‘full of confidence.’
“It’s been tough – I think inconsistent is the word. We’ve had a couple of good performances, but we need to keep that up for 90 minutes.
“I feel good and feel like I had a good pre-season. I think the most important thing now is to get points on the board for Mansfield Town.
“We’re in a position now where we need to get points on the board, so we’ll hopefully start with Saturday.
“If you get back-to-back wins in this league, you can always fire yourself up the table.
“I put it [personal good start to season] down to the gaffer [John Dempster]. He’s given me freedom to play and I feel fit and fresh.
“I’m just looking for more of the same to be honest. I was disappointed not to score with the chance at Crawley but I’m just hoping to be a bit more clinical when the next chance comes.
“I’m just hoping to kick on now and get into double figures and see where I can go from there. I feel like I’ve been a bit more clinical this season.
“Goals breed confidence and I think I am full of confidence at the moment. When the next chance comes, I’m hoping to stick it away.
Rose then reflected on Tuesday evening’s disappointing home defeat to Cambridge United, adding: “It’s a difficult one to take [Cambridge result] especially after the first-half performance. I felt there was only one team going to go on and win it.
“We went into the changing room after and Pressie [Matt Preston] apologised, it [red card] was a massive factor that changed the game. We sat back after the red card as teams do and tried stealing a goal, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.
“I had a chance at Crawley that was pretty much the exact same [as Andy Cook’s opportunity against Cambridge]. I think he did the right thing taking a touch, I think if he takes a little bit of a better touch and gets his shot off it probably goes in.
“It’s a tough one to take – we gave ourselves a mountain to climb. We just have to train hard now and go into Saturday.
“We came in and did a bit of running [on Wednesday]. We didn’t have the day off because we didn’t deserve it.
“We have to go into Port Vale now, hoping to pick up three points in what is a massive game for us.
“I think we need to be a bit more ruthless in both boxes. I think we need to be more clinical in the opposition box and defend for our lives in our box.”
When asked to deliver a message to the supporters ahead of the weekend’s match at Vale Park, Rose said: “I’m hoping that the fans can fetch themselves to the game and really get behind us.
“Just stick with us. Come in your numbers like you have been doing and support us as much as you can.
“Port Vale isn’t too far so hopefully they can come in their numbers and support us.”
iFollow Stags subscribers can watch Rose’s interview in full by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow later today.
