Stags can achieve play-off spot

ANOTHER manager who has done an excellent job over the past 12 months is Mansfield Town's David Holdsworth.

When he went to Field Mill at the end of last year, the club were facing the prospect of successive relegations, when they wanted to instead be chasing a place back in the Football League.

After steadying the ship last season, Holdsworth now has the club going forward again.

The mentality of a manager is so important and he is not now prepared to settle for consolidation – he wants to get the Stags climbing even higher.

Now his team have to keep plugging away because they have given themselves a decent start in a bid to do something memorable.

Yes, they have had a couple of bad results of late, losing to Tamworth in the FA Trophy and 3-0 to York City on Boxing Day, but that can happen to any team at any level.

I still think have a very good chance of reaching the play-offs come the end of the season.

It is very difficult to see them catching Oxford, who are going really well and the play-offs really are a lottery.

But. like Forest, Mansfield fans will be an awful lot happier than they were this time last year.