Battle for Mansfield Town places hots up after reserve win

Stags secured the bragging rights with a 3-2 victory over their bitter rivals as a number of first team squad players impressed.

And Evans says the performance shows he has plenty of options as Mansfield look to smash their way into the play-off places.

“We used the game for a number of different reasons. Kyle Howkins got 60 mins which is great and George Taft got his first 90 mins in a long long time,” said Evans.

“It gave us a chance to give a number of players a run out such as Yoann Arquin, CJ Hamilton, James Baxendale and so on. Jamie McGuire covered every blade of grass like he always does.

“All the guys needed game time and they did very well. There were no injuries and it was objective achieved.

“You look at certain players to see how far they have come. A couple have worked their way in to my thoughts for Saturday,”

And Evans feels that competition around the squad will be a big help as Stags get down to the business end of the season,

“What’s important is we have competition for places and I think we have demonstrated in the last month of football that we do change things to have an affect and win the game.

“One of two people will say ‘but you didn’t win the game’, but we took the opposition apart on the day and just missed chances. Some of the perfomance against Carlisle did not reach the heights of our display against Colchester or Plymouth, but it could have been a more emphatic win.

“You will always be judged on winning football matches and so you should be. Management is always a statistics game.”

Get all the latest Mansfield Town news via our dedicated Stags facebook page.