Mansfield Manager Clough Attributes Recent Losses to Team’s Adjustment to League One

Manager Nigel Clough stated that Mansfield Town is in a period of adjustment to the third tier of English football, following their first instance of consecutive League One losses this season. Clough has managed Mansfield for four years. The club, known as the Stags, experienced a 1-0 defeat against Bristol Rovers at the One Call Stadium on Saturday. This followed a loss by an identical score to Wrexham in the preceding week. Apart from these recent results, Mansfield’s sole other league defeat since September, which came after a strong beginning to their return to the third tier following a 21-year hiatus, was also a 1-0 loss, this time against Stevenage. Speaking to BBC Radio Nottingham, Clough commented, “I just think we are getting used to the league.” He elaborated on the recent matches, stating, “The frustrations of Saturday, and the Wrexham and Stevenage games, is that it’s the reality of us being in League One.” Clough further explained, “Teams will come and maybe not have as much of the ball as us, and not create as much as us but because they have the quality in the final third and they are also better defensively than what we were up against last season, then we are going to have these results.” Notably, in both of their recent losses, Mansfield recorded a higher number of shots and more attempts on target compared to their adversaries. A goal scored early by Ryan Barnett secured the win for Wrexham, whereas a second-half effort from Luke McCormick was the deciding factor for Bristol Rovers. Clough highlighted a positive aspect, stating, “The main positive we can take is the performances, because we played quite well in both games.” He added, “We had 30-odd shots over the two games and not managed to score.” Reflecting on previous matches, he remarked, “You look back at victories we’ve had at home, against Cambridge and Shrewsbury, we put our chances away but I don’t think we played as well in those two games as we did in the past two. You just have to put the ball in the back of the net.” As a consequence of these consecutive losses, Mansfield has dropped to 10th position in the league standings, now trailing the play-off spots by two points. Their upcoming fixture on Tuesday is against league leaders Wycombe, a team currently enjoying a nine-match winning streak across all competitions. When questioned about his anticipation for confronting the division’s frontrunners, Clough responded, “Of course, why not? Everything we have faced this season we have faced it admirably.” He concluded, “We haven’t always got the results, but we have faced up to it and that will be no different [on Tuesday].”