MANSFIELD Town manager Graham Coughlan was full of admiration for Richie Wellens’ Swindon Town and says he wants his team to go toe-to-toe with the League Two leaders at the One Call Stadium on Saturday.

Despite being some 20 places and 31 points behind Swindon, Stags boss Coughlan says he will task his group of players with taking the game to their visitors and attempting to attack with as much verve as Wellens’ XI.

In a pre-match press conference with local media outlet Chad.co.uk, Coughlan said his team could not wish for a sterner test this weekend – not that they will be put off by that fact.

Coughlan said: “You can’t ask for bigger, you can’t ask for better.

“They’re miles ahead of every other team in this division. They’re top of the league, winning games of football.

“For us to come close to them on Saturday, for us to give them a good competitive game, a good examination, it will take all our players to turn up, to give an eight or nine out of 10 performance.

“I believe we can do that. I believe the lads can do that. It’s a game I’m really looking forward to.

“We played Cheltenham, we played them off the park. We played Plymouth, we played them off the park. But yet we haven’t won football matches.

“I keep harping on back to that old broken record, I know, but it’s a great game to go into.

“I can’t wait because I do believe our lads are turning a corner. It’s slowly but surely starting to change.”

Mansfield’s biggest problem this season has been defending – the Stags have conceded 54 goals as opposed to their 46 scored.

The Mansfield manager is keen to carry on building on the encouraging home performances of late though and said his team will not go completely gung-ho in search of a result that would likely send shockwaves through the division.

Coughlan said: “When you work on defending you don’t score down the other end. You work on scoring, you don’t defend down the other end. I think there has to be a balance,” he said.

“I don’t think we can concentrate on one end of the park in particular.

“If anything we are looking a little more solid, a bit tighter and we are looking a dangerous outfit on the front foot when we go after teams. We won’t change too much.”