High praise for Mansfield Town performance from beaten Grimsby Town boss Paul Hurst

A Lucas Akins penalty and a Rhys Oates goal saw Stags through on a night when they dominated with superb football and could and should have won by many more.

“That was pretty much as good a performance I've seen from a League Two side for some time,” said Hurst.

“We were beaten by a very good side in my opinion.

“Mansfield went very close last season and are a group that's been together for some time.

“They played some very good football – Nigel Clough wants his team to play that way.

“We did contribute to that by inviting pressure, but there is no doubt about it, they were the better team on the night by far.”

Grimsby keeper Harvey Cartwright brought down Rhys Oates for the penalty and Hurst said: “Harvey made the mistake from the goal but then made some good saves afterwards. He will bounce back from that.

“And when we did have some good opportunities, Christy Pym made a good save from Danny Rose.

“We had some other situations but are not finding the right pass or taking that bit of care to make the most of opportunities that did arise.

“We could have run harder and competed more but I don't want to make excuses or take anything away from Mansfield.

“This is a new group for me to learn about and some decisions have been made easier for me tonight after the game.

“Mansfield are one of the favourites in terms of that top group and on tonight's evidence it suggests we are short of that.”