Play-off race will go down to the wire - Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray

Mansfield Town boss Adam Murray feels the race for the League Two play-offs will go all the way to the wire.
Mansfield Town v Luton Town
English League Football - Sky BET League Two
One Call Stadium, Mansfield, England.
23rd January 2016

Mansfield Town Manager Adam Murray during the 0-2 defeat.

Picture by Dan Westwell

dan.westwell@btinternet.com
07793 733140Mansfield Town v Luton Town
English League Football - Sky BET League Two
One Call Stadium, Mansfield, England.
23rd January 2016

Mansfield Town Manager Adam Murray during the 0-2 defeat.

Picture by Dan Westwell

dan.westwell@btinternet.com
07793 733140
Mansfield Town v Luton Town English League Football - Sky BET League Two One Call Stadium, Mansfield, England. 23rd January 2016 Mansfield Town Manager Adam Murray during the 0-2 defeat. Picture by Dan Westwell [email protected] 07793 733140

With just 14 games to go, Stags are in the seventh and final place as they enter a run of three games against bottom five sides

“To be fair I am trying to not look at the table,” he said. “It’s that close, it’s pointless.

“It is ridiculous. We are joint on points with fifth. There are four or five teams below us that who are chasing us.

“I think this will go to the wire, I really do. I think it will be like that to the end. All the teams around us have got to play each other.

People keep saying these have got games in hand and these have got games in hand. But they will have to play Saturday/Tuesday, Saturday/Tuesday with small squads as well some of them.

“So I am glad we’ve got the points on the board and we’re not having to catch games up. I think that will work as a bonus. What a great position to be in. We will fight to the end.”

Stags beat Morecambe 2-1 and pulled off a superb 2-2 at Oxford in midweek before being brought down to earth with a 3-0 defeat at second-placed Plymouth on Saturday. But Murray said: “Overall it’s been a good week for us Saturday/Tuesday/Saturday.

“We’ve learned a lot and picked up some good points. We will move on swiftly as, just as we didn’t get carried away by the recent good run, we’re not going to get too low with losing one game.

“We need to get better in certain areas if we want to be a top three side. We will push for that. The big thing for me is over the next few years I want to make us a continuously competitive team.

“So every season we are doing what we are doing now – we don’t have run of the mill seasons, we don’t have seasons where we are fighting at the other end, so it’s important we learn from games like Saturday.”

He added: “You have to keep a realism on wins and losses. We lost to Plymouth away – it’s not the end of the world. It’s about learning.

“It’s not about beating ourselves up and saying we’re not as good as Plymouth. That is a fact. What we are is a very good team.

“We thank the travelling fans for the travelling they did this week. We know how hard it is for us, so it must be even harder for them getting up early in the morning and having to get down there.”