MANAGER: Yet another tough game

United head into another tough home fixture tonight when Nigel Clough brings his high-flying Stags to Brunton Park.

“It’s straight back into it but that’s how it is,” boss Paul Simpson said. “It's the same for Mansfield.

“They're a good side, we know they're a good side, so we’ve just got to get ourselves freshened up. I’m hoping we have no issues from the weekend and we can pick a team that goes out with energy and a real desire to go and get back to winning ways at home.

“We need to do that. We’ve had that blip, and hopefully it is only a blip. If we do it properly against Mansfield we’ll be back at it, and what a great game to look forward to.

“They’ve been up there for the last season or two so they’ll bring us another tough test. We need to be ready and we need our supporters to come and back us again, and hopefully we can get back to winning games for them.

“When you look at the results from Saturday you see that there are going to be loads of twists and turns between now and the end of the season. There are 16 games to go and we have to keep going, it’s as simple as that.

“We want to stay up in these top places and we have an opportunity with the next two home games to get more points. Mansfield are a strong side, Colchester are the form team, so we have to go and do it right. If we do, the point we got at Wimbledon becomes a huge point for us.”

“Mansfield with their staff and with their players, they know what it's like to be involved at the top of the table,” he continued. “We're going to have to dig deep again and make sure we’re right.

“I thought we had a really good performance away at Mansfield and probably did enough to get a win, but we didn't. We have to make sure we get a performance and do everything we can to get three points.

“And we know we’ll get the fans. We’ve had some great Tuesday night home crowds, so tonight is another test for them, another test for us.

“As I keep saying, if we all stick together, we've got a chance.”

Read Time: 2 mins