Mansfield Town captain Ryan Sweeney hails 'squad effort' after battling point against Huddersfield Town
Captain Ryan Sweeney hailed a ‘fantastic’ clean sheet after 10-man Mansfield Town stood strong against Huddersfield Town to secure an unlikely 0-0 draw.
Stubborn Stags shut out the promotion-chasers for 46 minutes after half-time sub Owen Dodgson had been red-carded for a poor tackle just two minutes into the second half.
But, despite naturally bossing the rest of the game, the unbeaten Terriers lacked the bite needed to puncture Mansfield’s rock-solid rearguard.
“I thought, to a man, it was outstanding,” said Sweeney. “We spoke this week about the need to be better as a collective and as a defensive unit. We need more clean sheets which is what we prided ourselves on last year.
“To come away with the clean sheet after being down to ten men for 40-45 minutes is a good feather in our caps as a squad.
“It was just about doing a job to a man and seeing it through. For the whole squad it is a brilliant point and a fantastic clean sheet for us. It is incredible and a whole squad effort.”
Sweeney felt the foundations of the impressive clean sheet had been laid on togetherness and every player singing from the same hymn sheet.
“We came in at half-time and we were pretty pleased with how we had gone about things,” added Sweeney.
“I thought we were in control and looked like the team who were going to score. We wanted to carry that on and then unfortunately we have gone down to ten men and the game turns on its head and then it’s a different prospect facing us.
“We had to show a different side in the second half and we did that incredibly well. The togetherness of the squad is brilliant and I am sure that will come out a lot more over the course of the season.
“We knew they would have a lot more of the ball and we had to be solid and track runners, to do all the basics and not let them inside too much.
“We dealt with crosses brilliantly as well, there was togetherness and quality in our defending. We haven’t done an awful lot wrong this season, we’ve just been punished in moments so far.”
Stags head to Burton Albion at the weekend as they go in search of a first win in four.