Mansfield Town boss full of praise for Nottingham Forest loan man Joe Gardner after brilliant goal against Stevenage

The Forest loan man collected the ball from keeper Liam Roberts before he went on a surging solo run and finished brilliantly as Stags broke from a Stevenage corner.

The leveller was the perfect response after Stags had fallen behind just three minutes earlier after Charlie Goode had opened the scoring from Harvey White’s 70th minute corner.

“The goal was the highlight of the day,” said Clough. “It is not just running half the length of the pitch, it is the quality of his finish as well.

“Joe is another one we have seen so little of because of the injury all those months ago at Sligo. It was a wonderful finish and a wonderful goal.

“We have all been a bit frustrated with the injury. He did well against Harrogate and had a chance of starting today, but he is still building up his fitness.”

Clough was also delighed with the gritty point won against the high-flying visitors.

“It was an incredibly hard-fought game and you can see exactly why Stevenage are up there,” added Clough

“We started well for the first 20 minutes and then lost our way a little bit. You fear the worst when they went 1-0 up because they are so hard to break down.

“We thought it was a foul in the build-up on Stephen McLaughlin, without a doubt. It was a push and we didn’t get the foul. It is very disappointing.

“The referee set the tone from the start, but we got the equaliser and it is a great point.

“We should have got something from the first two games of the season but after that it has been pretty good stuff.

“Even against Harrogate we lost but played extremely well. We are seeing signs that we are getting there.”

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