Adam Chapman hails Mansfield Town's '˜best performance of the season'

Matt Green fired play-off chasing Mansfield into a sixth minute lead with his 15th goal of the season.

County should have levelled during a dominant first half with Izale McLeod, Thierry Audel, Liam Noble and Jon Stead all wasting chances.

They proved to be costly misses when Chapman hit a scorching free-kick to put Mansfield firmly in the driving seat after 57 minutes.

Green put the game out of sight with his second on the hour, before Reggie Lambe and Mitchell Rose completed the rout.

“This is a big win for us, but we still have a job to do on Tuesday at Exeter,” said Chapman.

“This was a win built on desire and energy. We did not play the sort of football we wanted to but we got the win.

“This is the best performance, it got us three points against our local rivals in front of a packed house. We wanted more and more goals and this has given us a lot of satisfaction.

Mark Cooper says County players let themselves and fans downMatch report: Mansfield Town 5 Notts County 0Adam Murray praises desire of Mansfield Town players“We were not happy at half-time. We struggled a bit with their shape and we were getting penned in.

“The boss asked for more tempo, energy and desire in the second half and we did that.

“We had the desire at 3-0 to put them to the sword. The fans helped push us to that win, especially in the first half. It was a great day.”

Chapman was also delighted with his goal of the day contender.

He said: “I was always going to hit the free-kick. I ve not been able to get a look in all season, but I have had a couple of goals like that before.

It was just a case of smashing it and anything can happen. It was a great goal.”

Mansfield remain six points behind AFC Wimbledon in the final play-off place after their 1-0 win against Crawley.