Accrington Previews

Despite the Guardian Article appearing this week, it is the playing side of things that need to take priority this weekend, as the Stags look to build on a very encouraging performance against Portsmouth. The need for 3 points is huge in the home game with Accrington Stanley, especially as the Stags form away from Field Mill this season has been poor, again putting pressure on the home form.

Stags boss Peter Shirtliff, who was disapointed with the showing at Torquay, was happy with the response his players showed in the 2-1 Carling Cup defeat "I was really pleased with the reaction after Torquay because it looked liked they rolled their sleeves up and said: 'let's have a go' - and that's the attitude I want to see on Saturday," Shirtliff told the Mansfield CHAD website on Thursday.

"It was very positive and I would like to pay tribute to the supporters I though they were really, really good and it was a great atmosphere.

"We were a bit unfortunate to lose but we have to pick ourselves up now and move forward into the league programme.

"The character was good because they didn't get disappointed about being two goals down at half-time.

We kept going and we created lots of problems for Portsmouth and now we are hoping to take that into the Accrington game.

"We have not played badly all season, although it was a poor game at Torquay and we were all disappointed.

"Accrington have done well and it shows you that the teams who have come up from the Conference are decent sides. We are going to have to respect them and play very well if we are going to get a result."