Mansfield Town ace Jacob Mellis desperate for a first ever taste of promotion

Stags need just a point and Mellis, who has played at all four levels, is desperate to achieve.

“I have been relegated from the Championship a couple of times and that’s not nice. So to get promoted would be a dream,” he said.

“It will definitely be the biggest game of my career. You think you might get promoted all the time or be in and around it. But I have never come anywhere near one.

“We have a good squad of players here now and this has to be the season.

“With the gaffer in the past we stayed up on the last day of the season and that was a celebration. It was like we’d won the league. So I can only imagine what getting promoted is like. I want to taste it.

“Promotion would mean everything. We have been striving since the first day of pre-season in Portugal. We have been driving it and now it’s come down to the last game. It’s exciting.”

Mellis and the squad have been training on the huge pitches at England’s St George’s park HQ this week to get used to the Stadium MK surface.

“They have a big pitch here too so we are training on that to get used to the size. It’s a good surface and we are preparing well,” said Mellis.

“It’s a great stadium at MK. I think I have played there twice and won twice so I have good memories from there.

“They are one of the best teams we’ve played. We’ve both got great squads so may the best team win.”

Mellis said the players were less nervous than most as they were the ones that could actually go out there and do what is needed.