Jordan Bowery enjoys strike force reunion with Rhys Oates as Mansfield Town win at Salford City

Bowery has been used in a variety of defensive roles this season but is a striker by trade, and with Lucas Akins out with a broken bone in his face, Bowery took full advantage to move back up top and score Stags' opener as their unbeaten League Two run stretched to 16 games.

“It was nice to play up there alongside Rhys again – it brought back memories of old times,” he said.

“We played together a lot up front the season we got to the play-offs.

“It is a joy to play up there with him. He does so much for the team, He runs in behind and causes problems for defenders.

“Me being a defender at times, I would not like to play against him.

“He distracts players for me as well and I feel like I do the same for him, so at times we work well together.

“Lucas is a big part of how we play and does similar to what I do. He takes so much of the battering up there. He is vital to what we do so it's nice to step in while he is away.”

Bowery cut in from the left to bury a right-footed curler and said: “It was nice to be up there and score. It was an unusual feeling as it's not happened much.

“Apart from winning there is no better feeling than scoring a goal.

“I like playing anywhere but I prefer to be up there as a number nine.

“I do prefer to play down that left hand side and cut in if I am up there in a three.

“That is my preferred way to try to score, being predominantly right-footed.

“We said it was about time we won here. They are a good team who play good football and they caused us a lot of problems.

“But once we figured it out we looked settled and they didn't not break us down too many times.

“We know what Matt Smith is like with him having played a lot in the Championship and he is a very good target man. So Flinty (Aden Flint) and Brunty |(Lewis Brunt) dealt with him very well. I know he scored one but other than that I felt we dealt with him quite well.

“We lost the cup games last week but the main priority has always been the league, not that we don't care.

“The fans were unbelievable again today. They turn up in numbers, they're loud and they support us through and through. We appreciate it and thank them for that.”