Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough says his side will not get “too down” about their five-game losing run and will continue to try to “play” their way out of it.
The Stags lost 2-1 at home to resurgent Huddersfield on Saturday as the Terriers made it four wins in a row to stay firmly in the early League One promotion picture.
The result followed previous defeats by last season’s play-off finalists Bolton, a 3-1 loss described by Clough as “three points thrown away”, plus leaders Wycombe, second-placed Wrexham and Bristol Rovers, all by 1-0 scorelines.
That sequence came on the heels of a 1-1 draw at home to third-placed Birmingham City.
“We played three ex-Premier League sides and we’ve been so close and just come out on the wrong end of things,” Clough told BBC Radio Nottingham.
“They’ve just got to keep believing and keep going – it’s the realities of us being in League One.”
Mansfield had hoped they were on their way to ending their run of defeats when Adedeji Oshilaja cancelled out Ben Wiles’ early opener for the Terriers, only for Josh Koroma to put the visitors back in front two minutes later.
Played in the midst of Storm Daragh, Clough described the conditions as “horrific” but praised both sides for producing “good quality play throughout the game”.
“I thought the general performance was very good,” he said.
“[I’m] disappointed in the two goals we conceded – especially the second after we got back on level terms but it was a quality finish.
“I must sound like a broken record and people must get fed up of me saying the same things. I thought the effort we put in and the way we tried to play was spot on – and we’ll keeping doing it.
“They can’t do any more. It’s always the little things. They can’t give any more.”
The Stags remain in 10th place despite their latest setback, six points outside the top six, but have two games in hand on Lincoln and Barnsley immediately above them.
At the moment, Clough is not getting too concerned about their wait for a first win since October.
“The defeats have been against first in the league, second in the league, Bolton, Huddersfield – the biggest disappointment was losing to Bristol Rovers,” he said.
“We’ve lost five on the spin. Yeah, we are down about it but not getting too down and feeling sorry for ourselves – we’re going to keep playing.
“It [wins] will come. It will change. It has to. As long as we keep doing the things we’re doing and just improve on the little moments in games that are going against us.”