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Archived News from April 2002

BOSS WANTS PLAY OFF SECURITY
5th April 2002 12:47


Stuart Watkiss urged his side to secure a play-off place by beating Bristol Rovers tomorrow despite missing Les Robinson with a calf injury.
Stags, without a win in five games, have seen Cheltenham leapfrog them in the Third Division table into the third and final automatic slot.
But, although The Robins have a four-point advantage with a game in hand, Watkiss has not yet given up the ghost.
"I firmly believe that if we beat Rovers tomorrow, this club can kick on, particularly if Macclesfield do us a favour against Cheltenham.
"Whatever happens, if we can beat Rovers and then beat Cheltenham down here on Tuesday suddenly there is a huge amount of pressure on Cheltenham.
"Their only home game left is a tough local derby with Oxford followed by a long midweek trip to Carlisle and ending with a trip to Plymouth where the home side could still be chasing the title and, whatever, will probably have 20,000 fans behind them.
"We must at least match Cheltenham's result on Saturday and take it from there. If we don't win, all of a sudden teams like Rochdale and Rushden are back in contention as well.
He added: "Rovers are going through a transitional period right now with a new manager and they sold Nathan Ellington last week.
"But they did get a good win over Kidderminster on Monday and will make it very difficult for us.
"We are feeling very positive after the way we played with the ball at Luton and we've worked hard all week on our defending which has to improve after Easter."
Skipper Robinson is definitely out with a calf injury, but other injuries have thankfully cleared up.

Mansfield (possible): Pilkington, Hassell, Pemberton, Barrett, Reddington, Sellars, Murray, Disley, Corden, Greenacre, White.
Source: Teamtalk

 

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