Delight for Cox as Stags end home hoodoo

A beaming Cox said: “We have broken the back of it now and need to push on and we have a big game ahead here on Tuesday.

“We have got the monkey off our backs.

“I would be lying if I said our home form wasn’t in the back of my mind and the players’ minds.

“In the last two and a half years we have made this place a fortress and had some great times and won some magnificent games. But we have been poor here this season.

“I thought the boys tried to play some good stuff in horrible conditions today and we scored two very good goals.

“We probably got a bit nervous and a bit edgy near the end which you expect when they hold up five added minutes, especially after what happened in the sixth added minute last week.

“But I thought we deserved the win against a very good Southend side. We went long when we needed to go long and also played some nice short passes.

“Credit to both sets of players today as it was hard enough just standing up, let alone playing football out there.

“Credit also to our supporters, the majority of whom have stuck with us through thick and thin and deserve a pat on the back today.”

Although admitting his side hadn’t deserved to win, Southend boss Phil Brown was upset with match referee Simon Hooper and his officials over penalty decisions and a straight red card for Conor Clifford.

“Conditions were difficult, but I was disappointed with the decisions by the officials today which were nothing to do with the conditions,” he said. “ It was almost like there was a conspiracy theory going on against us.

“We had a couple of penalty appeals turned down and the red card for Conor Clifford was a disgrace.

“I am not here to berate officials and I am not blaming them for the result as we were not good enough today.

“But I was two or three yards away from the incident and the fourth official was only a yard away and he told us no way was it a red card.

“So why did he not translate that to the referee who came rushing over to show a red card?

“They are told to bide their time before they make decisions. For me it was a very inexperienced decision, though it hasn’t cost us the game.

“Conor got the ball and came out with the ball and didn’t use excessive force.

“Also the corner Mansfield scored from wasn’t a corner to start with but, sod’s law, it comes in and it’s in the back of our net.

“But we were the reason we got beat, though if we’d had a slice of luck we could have won it comfortably.”