Nigel Clough felt Mansfield Town goals 'came at good times' in Scunthorpe United win

A 3-0 lead at half-time, thanks to goals from Ryan Stirk, Stephen McLaughlin and an Anthony Grant own goal, was added to by Stephen Quinn in the opening minute of the second-half. Read the match report HERE.

But Clough felt it was the second-half display that pleased him more.

He said: “We got the goals at good times. The game had a bit of everything. I thought we were a bit fortunate in the first 45 minutes and didn’t think it was a 3-0 half as we were fortunate with a couple of the goals.

"I thought we played better in the second-half.”

Stags now prepare for a home game with Sutton United on Good Friday before a trip to Carlisle three days later, firmly in a position to launch an attack on the automatic promotion places.

Clough added: “We don’t know how many victories we need to make the play-offs or even challenge the top three, but we’ll take the games one at a time.

“To finish the run of seven away games out of eight as we’ve just had, it sets us up nicely for the last six games.”

Clough also took time to praise midfielder Quinn after the veteran’s goal scoring display at Scunthorpe.

He said: “I thought he was a shining example of what we wanted to do today.

“I’ve just said to the three young midfielders we’ve got in there in Jason Law, Matty Longstaff and Ryan Stirk, ‘if you’re thinking about having a career in football, look at him’.

“He was the driving force, he got us the victory almost on his own today.”