David Mirfin calls on Mansfield Town to lay down a marker

Stags sit 14th in the early League Two table and go into the game on the back of two disappointing results.

But Mirfin knows they can put the sluggish start to the season behind them with a win over Keith Curle’s men.

“It will be a tough game but we are prepared right,” he said. “This is an important game, even at this stage of the season.

“We want to lay down a marker and show other teams what we can do. We are going there to get a result.

“These are the places you want to go and lay the markers down. It makes other teams look up and notice and see we are serious and not all talk.

“It is a tough place to go, the home crowd make it a tough place to go, but we will go there as prepared as we are for any other game.

“Carlisle will be piushing for promotion, they went on a long unbeaten run last year and have the experience this year to stay there at the end.”

The former Huddersfield defender also knows three points will go a long way to healing the scars of the 2-2 draw with Luton Town.

“We were disappointed to let the two goal lead slip and to drop two points in that way,” he added.

“Hopefully we can learn from it so that it does not happen again.

“We want to go to Carlisle and get the three points. We have not got the points we deserve from the last two games.

“A point at Accrington would not have been bad had we backed it up with a win over Luton.

“The signs are there and there are positives we can take.

“There is good competition for places and the boss has a lot of options for his best starting eleven. No-one is guaranteed to start, you have to work hard in training and matches. We will need this to be successful.”

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