Cox threatens big changes

Paul Cox has threatened to make big changes in the dressing room to get Mansfield back on track after a 2-1 home loss to Morecambe.

A late winner for the visitors sentenced the Stags to a sixth straight defeat and Cox, now on his worst run since he joined the club of 10 games without a league win, saw his side lead comfortably at half-time through a Ross Dyer strike. But things fell apart as they missed a penalty and conceded two scrappy second-half goals that gave Morecambe only their second win in nine games. Cox snapped: "I don't think Morecambe won that, I think we lost it. We were 1-0 up and under no pressure whatsover. "It is just basic errors that are costing us. I hear all that stuff about having bad luck when you are on a run like this but I am not buying into that. We have good players here but they have to start making better decisions. "We should never have let them back into the game. They were basic, fundamental errors - schooboy errors - that cost us. "We seem to have a bit of a soft underbelly at the minute and that needs rectifying. We are the softest I've seen us since I came here. "There were some harsh words in there and the gloves are off. I don't know what's getting into players' minds, if they are feeling the pressure and needing an extra touch. "We have got to go back to basics and win games ugly. I am sure our supporters won't mind if we are winning games. "Look at our win at Chesterfield. That was ugly but effective. We are coming up to halfway now and no one will feel sorry for us. It is tough and it was tough on me. "I now need to see who is prepared to come with me and stand up and be counted. I now need to be ruthless with players. Some of them have been given a fair crack of the whip. If I need to make big decisions, I will make them - simple as that. We can't carry on like this. "I would have been very happy to just win 1-0. We need to get back to being disciplined, keep our shape and be mentally strong." When asked if Morecambe keeper Barry Roche should have been red-carded for the challenge that conceded the penalty he said: "I am sick of talking about referee's decisions. We should have put the penalty away and kept a clean sheet. "I though the fans were excellent and deserved more."