Mansfield Town stay patient over Mal Benning return

Stags would like Benning back in the side as soon as possible and admit they are having to hold the player back – but Stags are still refusing to even publicly guess at a return date.

“Mal is back to virtually full training,.” said boss Adam Murray.

“When the time is right we will throw something in there for him. But it will have to be the right environment. We are not going to play a team that’s going to threaten anything or risk anything with Mal.

“When we feel it’s right to put minutes into him we will. The good thing with Mal is that he is naturally fit, so his rehab has been good so far. He’s been working hard and he’s already at a very good level of fitness.

“We’ve seen with Nicky Hunt, he was out for seven weeks but has come back and feels fitter than before he was injured. You saw last Saturday, he looked sharp. That is a credit to the physios and DT (Daryl Thompson, strength and conditioning coach).