Mansfield Town can still make League Two play-offs, says Ryan Tafazolli

Lowly Mansfield currently sit in 20th spot following Tuesday night’s 4-1 mauling by Bury and are just six points above Northampton Town who occupy the last relegation place.

But Tagazolli says that 7th placed Southend United are still catchable despite The Shrimpers being 11 points ahead.

“Things can change quickly in this like. It is not unrealistic to say that we can still reach the play-offs in my opinion,” said Tafazolli.

“The table is that tight, if we go on a good run like we did last season then I don’t think the play-offs are out of reach.

“There are a lot of points still to be played for and if we can put a run together then we can climb the table.”

And, despite the 4-1 drubbing by Bury, Tafazolli is confident Mansfield will bounce back when the travel to London to face Dagenham on Saturday.

“We have to look forward now. Tuesday was not good, but it is important that we have the ability to bounce back now,” he said.

“We need to concentrate on what we are good at on Saturday and be positive against Dagenham. If we do that then I don’t think we will have any problems against Dagenham.

“We have been strong defensively recently so Tuesday night was disappointing, it was just one of this things.

“As players and a team, we can learn from the defeat. I have been looking at the DVD and analysing my performance to see where I could have improved, some of my clearances could have been better.

“If we stay solid and keep a clean sheet on Saturday then we will get all three points.”

Stuttering Dagenham have picked up just two wins out of their last 13 games as their own play-off bid begins to fade.

Mansfield, who defeated Dagenham 3-0 back in August, have won three of their last 13 matches.

Louis Briscoe came through Wednesday night’s 3-0 reserve defeat against Scunthorpe unscathed as he looks to make a return to the first team.

Assistant manager Adam Murray also got a run out.