Rochdale defeat the spur for Stags’ return to form, says Palmer

Mansfield Town's Ollie Palmer -Pic by:Richard Parkes

Stags failed to test the keeper once at Spotland while being lucky only to lose 3-0 in a one-sided affair.

Since then, though, they have bounced back to take seven points out of nine and Palmer said: “It really woke everyone up. I think we took Rochdale on the chin and really picked ourselves up. We knew it wasn’t good enough.

“It was the pinnacle for us and we knew it had got to be the end of our bad run. I think we have turned it around now.

“It is a slight weight of our shoulders, though we know we’ve still got a lot to do and a lot of points to pick up. It’s just the beginning for us.

“We had to work hard for them and had to defend well which is part and parcel of the game. Sometimes you have to win slightly ugly, you could say. But it can be effective.

“Games came thick and fast over Christmas as they do for all teams and that is what we needed, lots of games on the bounce.

“But there were a lot of tired legs at Exeter late on and the boys had to dig deep and grind out a result.

“It is a new formation. But, hopefully we can now go on a winning run and have found a winning formula.”

Although contributing with some energetic performances, Palmer is frustrated at only scoring three times this season and not finding the net since the big FA Cup win at St Albans on 9th November.

“I can’t buy one at the minute which is really frustrating. Fingers crossed I can get one at home to Scunthorpe,” he said.

“At least I am having chances and getting into the right place at the right time, so I shouldn’t beat myself up too much. The most important thing is that we are picking up wins.

“It will be a tough game tomorrow. If we can get a win, that would be fantastic, but I think as long as we don’t came away with nothing, I think fans will be quite happy.

“We had a day off on Monday to recuperate and let our bodies drain out and recover. Then it was an intense session on Tuesday.

“We stepped it up again yesterday and everyone should be fresh and ready to go again tomorrow.”