LOMAS ON STAGS: Belief continues to grow after unbeaten Mansfield Town's first ever win at Salford City

To still be unbeaten in the league after 16 games in mid-November is remarkable and the race continues with League One Portstmouth to see who can remain unbeaten the longest.

But Saturday’s hard-earned 2-1 at Salford City put another bogey to bed as the Stags had never won at the Peninsula Stadium before.

That followed victories that ended long-standing hoodoos against Accrington Stanley and Harrogate Town with another looming just before Christmas when they seek their first ever win against Sutton United at the fifth attempt to complete the set!

Mansfield have dominated the ball in many of their league games this season. But they saw less of it on Saturday as Salford made them work hard for the win.

Conceding so soon after going ahead could have seen things slide the wrong way in the past. And three cup defeats in eight days would also be at the back of players’ minds. But this side appears to be made of sterner stuff and they retook the lead and rarely looked like giving the Ammies a sniff of an equaliser.

Jordan Bowery once again changed position for the cause and scored a pearler of a goal while at the same time watched Callum Johnson come back into the side at right back – where Bowery had been covering – and excell down that side.

If Lucas Akins is fit for the weekend Bowery could yet find himself on the bench, despite a string of fine displays all over the park. Christy Pym also caught the eye with little to do but superb when called upon and a top drawer save to make sure Matty Lund for once failed to notch against Mansfield.

A word also for the magnificent away support. This wasn’t a local derby. This was a fair distance on a cold November Saturday and to take almost 1,200 – over a third of the gate – was incredible and thankfully the team rewarded them.

With over a third of the season already gone and Stags in the top three, they can now really press home their fine start with four games in a row against sides in the bottom half of the current form table, three of them at home starting with Newport County on Saturday.