Midfielder Ollie Clarke says ‘everyone in the squad is itching to play’ in tonight’s Carabao Cup fourth round tie at home to League One Port Vale.
Stags have beaten Grimsby, Sheffield Wednesday and Peterborough to reach the last 16 of the competition.
The 31-year-old previewed the encounter in a news conference at RH Academy yesterday afternoon.
“Everyone will be desperate to play and itching to get out there,” Clarke said. “You can see the bond we have as a squad at the moment.
“Whoever’s playing are being supported by the lads on the bench, the lads out of the squad. Everyone is wishing each other well and we want to win together. That’s a good sign for a group and the prospects for the season.”
Stags have equalled a club record 20 games unbeaten – stretching back to last season, and Clarke assessed the exceptional run, saying: “Everything has sort of come together at the right time.
“We’ve had a bit of luck in that period, we’ve put teams to bed when we needed to. We’ve fought out draws, when in previous years we might not have. We’re showing resilience to not lose games and to come back from goals down.
“We’ve been killing teams off and it’s been enjoyable to be a part of.
“It’s one of those, you don’t get to compete in this stage of the competition very often. To get to the quarter-final of the League Cup and potentially play big teams is what we want and what everyone is here for.
“You know, playing against a team in a higher division, that they’ll probably be better on the ball. They might have different movement and play a different way to what we’re used to. But we know we’re capable of playing above our level, we’ve shown that twice this season. It’ll be good for us tomorrow, a real good contest and I think we’ll put on a good performance for the fans.”
Stags last faced Port Vale at Wembley in May 2022, losing 3-0 in the League Two play-off final.
“We owe them one as well so I’m sure we’ll be right up for that,” said Clarke. “We’ve beaten teams in leagues above us this season so we can do it again tomorrow. You have to turn up and put a performance on.
“Everyone knows what happened that day. We didn’t quite get going for whatever reason, but it’s gone now. We know a lot has changed since then. In terms of us, we’re a lot better as a team. The squad as a whole has improved. We know what we’re capable of. We know how to win games.”
