Mansfield Town skipper Ollie Clarke praises home fans helping them dig deep for victory

Clarke gave Stags the lead for a second time just before the break and the home side then had to withstand late pressure to hang on for a second successive victory.

“When the fans get behind you in that last 10-15 minutes you dig deep - and I think the boys did that well,” said the Stags skipper.

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“It wasn't the prettiest game of football but we dug deep.

“I think a lot of teams are going to come here and try to stop us playing and we have got to be resilient and show why we are trying to push for the top end of the table.

“It won't be pretty football week in, week out, we know that – it's League Two.

“We just know we have to be consistent in ourselves, try to do the right things, and when we have to put our bodies on the line, try to win the game in different ways.”

On his winning strike, Clarke added:

“We tried to play but at times we had to utilise the big man, Oli Hawkins, and he's won pretty much everything today.

“He flicked it on to DJ (Danny Johnson), he span it round the corner and I just managed to run onto it and catch it clean.

“To be honest I didn't even see it go in as I was on the floor. I just take them as they come and I am glad it was the winning goal in the end.

“We have managed two wins against two good teams without being at our best with our performances.”