Here's what Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough had to say about his side's performance in the win over Northampton Town

Oli Hawkins hit the winner midway through the first half as the promotion-chasers set a new club record of 11 successive wins.

Northampton came close to levelling when Mitch Pinnock hit the crossbar soon after.

The home side took charge from that point but were unable to double their lead after Liam Roberts made five key saves.

Northampton’s hopes of a fightback were hit when Paul Lewis was red-carded on 75 minutes for an off-the-ball shove on George Lapslie.

“The performance today warranted three points against one of the top teams in the league,” said Clough.

“We were outstanding from start to finish and there were a lot of fine individual performances today.

“There are still lots of games to go but it's nice to be back in the top seven and still with the games in hand.

“It was a good cross from Matty Longstaff, we try to put it in the right sort of areas and it was a brilliant header from Oli (Hawkins), along with the rest of his performance today.

“How we haven’t scored another after that is down to their keeper.

“We didn’t make any mistakes today and that was key.

“Nathan Bishop was a spectator for much of the game and especially the second half.

“It is not an absolute certainty that you are going to win the game when you have a man advantage and we wanted that second goal.

“Their keeper made some outstanding saves and they made some excellent blocks, we didn’t get a break but we didn’t need one.

“The back four were excellent.”

It leaves Stags trailing Port Vale in third place on goal difference ahead of the trip to leaders Forest Green on Tuesday night.

Get more game reaction and the latest Mansfield Town news, here.