Mal Benning back in Mansfield Town squad for Crawley Town trip

Benning, out with a serious knee injury since October, has shown no ill effects today and look set to travel south with the squad tomorrow.

Manager Adam Murray then has a big decision to make, whether to throw him straight into the starting XI, stick with Lee Collins, who won man of the match in that position in Tuesday’s 2-1 win at Morecambe, or utilise Fulham loanee Sean Kavanagh.

“We had a game organised for Mal yesterday which was called off, so we put together an in-house game for him and some of the other boys who needed minutes in their legs and it went really well,” smiled Murray.

“Mal came through it as expected, so he has put himself back in the picture now.

“Obviously he is lacking minutes, but he’s only going to get that with games.

“So that is a huge boost for us - a massive boost for the group and a big boost for Mal and a big boost for supporters. He is ready to go.”