Skipper Dempster confident as Stags prepare for Bury six-pointer

The Stags began a vital run of four home games in five in style yesterday by beating Fleetwood 1-0 and Dempster said: “We now move on to Bury and it will be a massive game on Tuesday night.

“We are looking forward to it. They have had a change of management and are now picking up some results. They have some experience and quality, but we are confident we can get a positive result against them.

“There is still a long way to go, but if we keep on putting in performances like that we will be fine.

“We will be looking upwards rather than downwards.”

On the Fleetwood win, he added: “That was a cracking performance. The lads put in a really good shift.

“We were quality first half and robust second half and it was an overall good day at the office.

“We could have won by more, especially in the first half when we were very dominant. If we’d have come in two or three up it wouldn’t have been an unfair reflection of the game. But we had to show a lot of character second half as Fleetwood chucked everything at us.

“You do get tempted to defend deeper but you have got to be brave and try to stay out of your box.”

Matchwinner Matt Rhead said: “I thought we coped with the windy conditions well and got the result, which was massive. With other results elsewhere it was important we got the three points.

“We are disappointed we didn’t score a few more goals but luckily today one was enough and thankfully I scored it.

“It was something we worked on in training on Friday. I just peeled off at the back stick and thankfully Chris Clements just put it on a plate for me. The keeper got a hand to it but it wasn’t strong enough to keep it out.

“We should have got something out of the Oxford game last week but we bounced back today.

“We have got a settled squad now and we are pushing on.

“We are playing again on Tuesday now which we like. It happened a lot last season and it keeps the lads together.”