'Stats were so good' during win drought - Clough

Nigel Clough wants Mansfield to all but secure League One safety in the next four games

Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough believes a surprising statistic proves his side have been better than their long winless run suggested.

A 90th-minute winner against Barnsley last time out broke a 13-match sequence without a victory in League One and prevented the Stags equalling the club record.

Yet Clough thinks the unwanted run was largely undeserved - and that the numbers bear that out.

"We're not massive on stats, but the stats were so good in the majority of the games in terms of chances created and everything," he told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"We are actually top (in League One) for most touches in the opposition penalty area this season, so if you get a stat like that then you know you're not doing too much wrong.

"We just needed the ball to drop our way and a bit of quality at times."

Clough admits the atmosphere among the players during their barren spell - in which they picked up four points - had "not been particularly harmonious", but said it wasn't "a bad thing".

He added: "A lot of good things come out when you're losing games, there's a lot of honesty.

"We don't paper over cracks when we're winning games - we try to be honest with the players, but I think frustration was the overriding one because we hadn't deserved it."

Mansfield sit 17th, eight points above the relegation places with nine games left, and Clough is targeting the next four-game block in their bid to avoid relegation back to League Two.

The Stags head to struggling Bristol Rovers on Saturday and then face play-off chasers Charlton, Huddersfield and Leyton Orient before a 10-day break in fixtures.

"The next four games are absolutely vital - we could get ourselves very close to safety," he said.

"We wouldn't be mathematically safe but very close to it and that's the aim in the next four games."