New friendlies will help Stags top up the '˜minute bank'

Boss Adam Murray has watched his side play three friendlies and decided to add two more late fixtures to the list.

“Tonight was just something that popped up,” he said ahead of the trip to Rossington Main’s ground in Doncaster where Stags’ first team will take on Matlock (7.30).

“Matlock fancied a game and we looked at our minute bank.

“By the end of pre-season we felt we might need one or two extra friendlies put in there, so we’ve chucked em in to get the lads a bit more game time and work on a couple more bits.

“It’s an extended training session really against an opposition that doesn’t know what you are doing, whereas sometimes when you are trying things in-house everybody knows what you’re doing, which defeats the object.”

This morning Mansfield also added the trip to Mickleover on Tuesday, 26th July (7.30), Murray adding: “We’ve booked Micklover Sports in again as a minute banker, just to make sure we’ve got everyone going into that first game with enough match fitness in their legs.

“I have 20 boys that could play against Newport so I’ve go to make sure they are all up to match speed.

“We know the guys at Mickleover, so we know it will be a decent game with a nice pitch.”

Murray is still hoping to add one more player to his tight-knot squad and at Clipstone last Saturday gave 45 minutes to an unnamed trialist right back.

When asked if he was still interested in the player, he said: “There is always interest in people.

“He might come along tomorrow night, he might not. I think we saw in the two games on Saturday that some of our first year youth team players got some game time, guys who have just left school as 16-year-olds, and they were outstanding.

“So it will be good to try to get some of them involved if need be. But it will be the first team that travels tomorrow night.

“We will look to extend a bit of game time and get another matchday work-out.”