BILLY McEwan insists Mansfield must follow in the footsteps of Rotherham United and Leeds United by 'bouncing back' from a points deduction.

The Stags were yesterday docked four points from their tally of 21 by the Football Conference at a hearing in Birmingham.

The Stags manager admits the penalty – after the club were found guilty of having ineligible players in their squad early in the season – is a sizeable blow.

As a result of the punishment, the club has slipped from seventh to 15th in the table, nine points behind leaders Crawley Town.

But the Scot is adamant this is no time for anyone to be moping around at Field Mill, least of all his players.

McEwan is hoping to see a positive reaction at Broadhall Way, Stevenage, tonight. And he believes there are no better examples of how to respond to the disappointing news than at Millmoor and Elland Road.

Already this season, Rotherham have quickly erased a 17-point penalty in a superb start to their campaign and now have a very realistic chance of staving off relegation from League Two.

Last year, Leeds were hit by a 15-point deduction yet still managed to reach the end-of-season play-offs.

McEwan wants Mansfield to show a similar never-say-die attitude.

"It is not a difficult time, just what I would call a setback, and there are still a lot of points to play for," he said.

"Rotherham have just wiped out to 17-point deficit they had and Leeds got to the play-offs last season despite their deficit, so we aren't going to be using what has happened as an excuse. We are going to be using this as motivation to say to everyone 'come on' and to think positively.

"Everybody is disappointed and I feel sorry for the fans as well as the players, who have worked their socks off.

"We have to go out there and not feel sorry for ourselves and try to focus on the games.

"We will find out how the players react tonight, but there are a lot of experienced guys; they are not all kids.

"My attitude is that if you get knocked to the floor, are you going to get up or stay down? It's not how high you fall, it's how high you jump.

"When people say it can't be done, I always say 'why not?'

"This is no time for negative people," he said.

"We need winners and have to go out tonight and try to get three of the points back."

McEwan firmly believes the penalty imposed is due to nothing more than an honest clerical error.

And he is keen that the finger of blame is not pointed at any individual, especially as the incident occurred when the club was in transition after changing owners.

McEwan said: "If it is a mistake, then it is a genuine mistake. We have not tried to be devious.

"We felt we had done everything right and it was by the letter of the book, not cutting any corners.

"I would not be associated with anything like that in the club because it is professional and we try to do things right.

"The people who are at the club now have their heart in the right place. At times like this we need to help each other and it is pointless the fans saying this and that.

"I would just appeal to them to stick with us and hopefully we can then get the club sorted out and run the way we want it to be."

In Hertfordshire, Mansfield will find the division's joint second top scorer with eight goals, Steve Morison, waiting for them.

But McEwan believes Borough – who lost 3-0 at Torquay on Saturday after previously going five unbeaten – will have just as much to worry about in trying to keep his side quiet.

"Morison is a good player and he will be a handful if we are not on it," he said. "They have one or two other useful attacking players as well.

"But I know enough about them having watched them play against York. They went 2-0 up and capitulated to go 3-2 down before a Morison header go them a point.

"They are blowing hot and cold but we will have to play better than we did on Saturday and a nice pitch should help us do that."

matthew.halfpenny@nottinghameveningpost.co.uk