Defender Oli Hawkins happy to be great striker option for Mansfield Town

The towering Hawkins scored in the comeback win at Hartlepool last week and came close in Sunday's defeat at Walsall after being pushed up.

“I don't miss the running up front. But it does help the team that I can be thrown up there as a target man,” he said.

“I have done it all my career, being up there, winning headers and trying to make things happen.

“I still love doing it but I am just not as used to it as I was before.

“But if the game needs it I am there to help.

“We don't want to go long – we still try to play and put balls into the right areas.

“But if it is the last 10-15 minutes, I don't think there is anything wrong in just kicking it into the box and hoping for second balls. You just don't want to do it for 90 minutes.”

He added: “The first half of this season has been a bit of an improvement on last season – not a great improvement but I think we are in a better spot.

“There is still half a season to go and with the squad we've got and fan base and everyone in the club we are ready to kick on in the second half and push for promotion.”

On the last two festive games, he said: “They were two really tough, battling games.

“We did really well after going behind at Hartlepool to come back and win the game.

“At Walsall we were the more dominant side in the first half, had more possession and more shots, but came away with nothing.

“We have to move on from that now and focus on the next few games.”Missing eight players has not helped matters for Mansfield.

“This last month has been a difficult period with injuries and a lot of people getting ill and having to have a few days off training,” he said.

“Myself and my partner and our two boys were ill for over a week.

“But I think we have dealt with it well and we have a big enough squad to chop and change when we need to.

“Hopefully going into the New Year, with a few additions and people coming back from injury, we look very strong to finish this off.”

Hawkins has twice been involved in wins at Saturday's opponents Barrow this season and said: “They are difficult to play against at their place because of the conditions and the area it's in with the wind.

“Defensively they are probably one of the biggest back fours you will get in this league. And they have all different type of players of front of them.

“I think it will be a completely different game here on Saturday as our pitch is a bit bigger and hopefully we will be able to play a bit more football and control the game a bit more. We will be at them from minute one.”