Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough delighted with cup spectacle as Stags win five goal thriller against Manchester City U21s

An end to end encounter saw a wealth of chances and great football and Clough smiled: “I think we looked at the clock on about 14 minutes and it could have been 3-3 with the chances, and I think that continue throughout.

“We got away with it in added time when Scott Flinders made a great save with his legs and they hit the bar as well. It was that sort of game and could have been anything.

“There were that many chances, and I thought we had as many of them throughout the course of the game.

“The only disappointing thing was that we conceded from two long balls.

READ THE FULL MATCH REPORT – STAGS v CITY

“The first was a mix-up between Scott Flinders and Kellan Gordon who both thought the other was going for it and we thought the other was a yard offside over Macca's head (Stephen McLaughlin).”

He continued: “That's the thing, As much as they passed, passed, passed and got in, they can also hit you with that long ball as well and it was very reminiscent of watching their first team.

“It causes you just as much problems.

“You can see they play just like the first team, so many things are similar.

“I would have liked to have just watched it and not been involved with it as I am sure for those watching it, it must have been a very good game.

“I just said to the ref, you must have enjoyed watching it, and he said it was tough physically with the pace of the game.”

Clough, who made eight changes, two enforced, felt the game was perfectly timed to raise morale after losing a third away game in a row at Sutton United on Saturday.

“After Saturday's disappointment to be back at home makes a huge difference,” he said.

“That is 24 consecutive games we've scored at home, and not just the odd goal here or there. We've scored a lot here and you can see the confidence just flowing through us. We now need to fix the away form and the home form takes care of itself.

“It's nice to win a game straight after losing and we will go to Doncaster now on Saturday in a better frame of mind than if we'd had a clear week and some people have got minutes in their legs that they needed.”