Manager Nigel Clough claims that his confidence is being drained by Mansfield Town’s losing streak.
The Stags have lost four straight games after losing 1-0 at home to relegation-threatened Crawley Town on Tuesday.
Clough’s team has dropped from ninth to 12th in the standings and been eliminated from the FA Cup as a result of this run.
“You can see our confidence is dwindling by the minute at the moment,” Clough said on Nottingham’s BBC Radio.
“I thought we were good value for a draw tonight and they played well in spells in the second half.”
An opportunistic late goal from Ade Adeyemo, as he pounced on Mansfield goalkeeper Christy Pym’s inability to hold on to a Will Swan shot, was the difference as Crawley ended their seven-match winless run with the narrow victory at the One Call Stadium.
“It’s just ironic that Christy makes a mistake when he has been absolutely immaculate,” Clough stated.
“We lost the game because he made two or three outstanding stops before leaking the simple one.
“It’s one of those where you want to get out of the game without losing, just to stop the run of defeats.”
Clough claims that challenging runs were to be expected because Mansfield is just in its first season back in the third division after 21 years.
They went through a similar difficult time in November and December, losing five straight league games.
A draw at Charlton ended that particular run, which was followed by four victories in five games.
“We just have to scrap and fight like we did at Charlton to get points and stop the rot,” Clough stated.
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