Mansfield Town midfielder George Maris has highlighted the squad’s togetherness as a significant component to the Stags’ excellent current form.
The 26-year-old has been an important part of the Stags’ squad this season as the amber and blue look to go one step further from last and gain promotion.
Nigel Clough’s men are six games without defeat in Sky Bet League Two ahead of Saturday’s visit of Walsall.
And speaking about team spirit in this morning’s news conference at RH Academy, he said: “I think we have been [in good spirits] for a couple of years now, whether we win or lose we always seem to pick ourselves up and the togetherness of the team has always been there.
“The new lads have come in and they’ve gelled straight away.
“It’s a similar vibe to last year with how close we are and I think you can see that in games.
“We can go behind and come back and we never look beaten.”
Speaking about Stags’ hard-fought 1-0 win at Barrow on Saturday, George said: “I thought it was a good result for us obviously.
“[It was] a game we might not have won last year, so it’s good to pick up the three points the way we did.
“It’s a different way of playing obviously, we don’t normally win like that but it’s three points nonetheless.
“They made it tough. They didn't let us play our sort of football. We had to resort to a different style of football.
“It wasn't pretty on the eye, but they’re the results that really matter come the end of the year.”
After a disappointing start to last season, Mansfield have started the 22/23 season extremely well and sit in fifth position in Sky Bet League Two.
“[It’s] Better than last year. It’s a good start. We just need to carry it on now.
“I know we’ve carried [our] form on from last year.
“We didn't start this well last year and we ended up in the play-offs.
“Any sort of form we can carry on hopefully takes us to where we want to be.”
Stags’ number 10 has already matched last season's goal tally, scoring three goals this term.
“Obviously I got one [goal] at Wimbledon and one [goal] at Doncaster [and] they come quite quickly.
“I feel like that’s happened in my career. If I get one, I’ll get a couple in a short spell.
“When Harts [Anthony Hartigan] got injured I was a bit gutted to be fair cause it meant me going further back.
“Hopefully I can get some more goals this year.”
Looking ahead to the visit of Walsall to One Call Stadium on Saturday afternoon, Maris said: “It was [a] tough [game] last year I remember.
“They came and made it difficult. I think we won 2-0 in the end but it was a tough game.
“They always are tough [to play], they’re big at the back.
“They’ll make it hard for us, it won't be an easy game for us.
“We just need to do what we have been doing at home.”
