Mansfield Town boss delighted with Riley Harbottle performance after last minute team switch

Elliott Hewitt was given the nod over Harbottle when the team was announced only for Hewitt to take ill after the warm-up.

“Riley has also been under the weather a bit the last couple of weeks,” said Clough.

“We had been undecided about the team all week and it was 50-50 with Riley and Elliott, but we just went with Elliott because of the pace of George Miller up front for Doncaster, who caused us so many problems with Walsall last year.

“We thought Elliott was 100 per cent as opposed to Riley. So great credit to Riley for coming in and playing so well when you're not in the starting line up then at 2.40 you get the shout.

“We always tell the lads to be ready if you're on the bench as you could be on after a minute and you could be named in the line-up at a quarter to three.”

Clough continued: “Elliott just came in from the warm-up and was violently ill.

“He sat down in the changing room and looked terrible – when you get that sort of grey, sweaty pallor. He looked really rough.

“We've had a few with this bug – Jordan Bowery and Oli Hawkins have missed games with it recently. There is a lot going round at the moment and it just comes on out of nowhere.

“His wife came and picked him up from the stadium. Obviously we didn't want him on the bus or anything like that. The last thing you want is it spreading through the dressing room.

“He is now feeling a lot better and should be in contention for Saturday if he recovers.”

Clough will also run the rule over James Perch and John-Joe O'Toole before the visit of Carlisle United on Saturday.

“John-Jo suffered a foot injury at Sutton. He's had a scan – it's not too bad though still a little sore and he's 50-50 for the weekend,” said Clough.

“James Perch came off after tweaking his knee with a block tackle on the edge of the box in the second half. He managed to continue for 10-15 minutes before being replaced by Kieran Wallace, so he's the only other one we really need to check on.”

But midfielder Hiram Boateng will not be fit.

“Hiram felt his hamstring in the middle of last week while training,” said Clough.

“He had played 20 minutes or so at Sutton and then trained on the Monday.

“Then he was on the bench against Man City but didn't feature.

“Then we just did a light session on the Wednesday morning with those that hadn't played and he just felt his hamstring a bit again.

“He has had a scan and he will probably be a couple of weeks – something like that.”

Striker Rhys Oates is also starting out on the comeback trail from his chest operation.

“I saw Rhys for the first time on Saturday since his operation when he came to the game at Doncaster and the scar looks very neat,” said Clough.

“He just has no real movement at the moment. But he will be getting round jogging in the next week or so and get things moving.

“Then it's just a process of extending his range of movement as each day goes by. It's already a couple of weeks since he did it so we're talking about two and half months before he is back in action.”