Mansfield Town owners John and Carolyn Radford praised by Keith Curle

Keith Curle says Mansfield Town have reaped the rewards of patience earlier in the season.

Curle, who guided Stags to the 2004 play-off final, says they are reaping the rewards for showing patience and sticking to the plan as Stags flirted with the relegation places early in the season.

Mansfield were second bottom after 14 games, with just 11 points.

“I think credit goes to the structure of the football club,” Curle said. “The owners of the football club had an understanding of where they were and have gone on this journey together.

“Credit has got to got to them because it would have been very easy, and I bet you see a lot of clubs, the team starts struggling, they get rid of their manager.

“They’ve had a good understanding and good belief of what Nigel was trying to do and they’ve got the rewards for the decisions they made at the time to stick with their manager.”

Stags face Port Vale next Saturday for a place in next season’s league one.

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