Stags still getting used to League One - Clough

Nigel Clough has been Mansfield boss for four years

Mansfield Town are still learning about playing in the third tier after suffering back-to-back League One defeats for the first time this season, says manager Nigel Clough.

The Stags where beaten 1-0 by Bristol Rovers at the One Call Stadium on Saturday, having lost to Wrexham by the same scoreline the previous week.

Mansfield's only other league defeat since September, after making an impressive start on their return to the third tier after a 21-year absence, was another 1-0 loss against Stevenage.

"I just think we are getting used to the league," Clough told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"The frustrations of Saturday, and the Wrexham and Stevenage games, is that it's the reality of us being in League One.

"Teams will come and maybe not have as much of the ball as us, and not create as much as us but because they have the quality in the final third and they are also better defensively than what we were up against last season, then we are going to have these results."

In each of their past two defeats, Mansfield managed to produce more shots and got more efforts on target than their opponents.

An early goal from Ryan Barnett was enough to earn Wrexham victory, while a second-half strike from Luke McCormick proved decisive for Bristol Rovers.

"The main positive we can take is the performances, because we played quite well in both games," Clough said.

"We had 30-odd shots over the two games and not managed to score.

"You look back at victories we've had at home, against Cambridge and Shrewsbury, we put our chances away but I don’t think we played as well in those two games as we did in the past two. You just have to put the ball in the back of the net."

Successive defeats has seen Mansfield slip to 10th in the table, two points off the play-offs.

They next face leaders Wycombe, who are on a nine-match winning run in all competitions, on Tuesday.

Asked if he was relishing the challenge of facing the division's pacesetters, Clough said: "Of course, why not? Everything we have faced this season we have faced it admirably.

"We haven't always got the results, but we have faced up to it and that will be no different [on Tuesday]."