Irow stars on debut but major blow as Mansfield Town say farewell to star midfielder Jamie McDonnell​​​​​​​

But it was a player not in the side that provided most of the afternoon's terrace talk as Jamie McDonnell was absent from the home side and seems set to sign for Championship club Oxford United this week.

After the game boss Nigel Clough confirmed: “Forest recalled him on Thursday with a move agreed to a Championship club. They have agreed a fee.

“We always knew it would be a possibility in January as he has done so well.

“So we thank him for his time with us and wish him all the best at his new club.

“Aaron Lewis has gone in there and done well today and we will have a look around and see if there is anything similar worth bringing in.

“It's unlikely as there are not many out there like him.

“Forest have been great and straight with us all along, saying this might happen. We move on.

“He has been brilliant and supporters loved him for his dynamism and going around tackling and heading everything.

“I hope we have helped him get his move to the Championship.”

Stags struggled in the first half. But teenager Irow came in and netted twice after the break on his senior debut while Will Evans also scored as Stags eventually coasted home.

“Oliver has shown his quality and composure in training so we thought why not give him a little run, though we never expected him to score twice,” said Clough.

“But his finishes in training have been very similar to that. His second goal was absolutely outstanding. No goalkeeper in the world would save that.

“His mum, dad and girlfriend were here today to see him make his league debut on his first loan and it's a brilliant start for him.

“We will now look after him for the rest of the season and hopefully he will score us a few more goals.”

On the game, he said: “To win 3-0 was probably a little undeserved, but there have been plenty of times this season we have not got what we deserved and I think we are still a few in credit.

“It was tough going and I thought first half we were as poor as we've been for some time.

“Port Vale were very good indeed. They are bottom of the league but you look at the quality they played with today it just shows the strength of this league. It is an incredibly competitive league from top to bottom.

“They really should have been ahead by a couple of goals and I thought Liam Roberts was the only reason we were still in the game at half-time.

“We never got going – we were a yard off all over.

“We changed things at half-time.

“It took a bit of magic from Rhys Oates to get us that first goal. When you are not playing well you need someone to provide you with a spark.”