Nigel Clough hails 'outstanding' defending as ten-man Mansfield Town pick up a big point against Huddersfield Town

Stags were forced to dig deep for the well-deserved point after Owen Dodgson was shown a straight red seconds after coming on as a half-time sub for a late lunge on Derensili Sanches Fernandes.

It gave Stags a first clean sheet of the campaign in the most unlikely of circumstances and left Clough thrilled at what he saw.

“This will be as good a point as we will get all season,” he said. “It is strange how you get your first clean sheet under these circumstances. We shouldn’t have to use adversity to defend as though our lives depended on it as we have today.

“We have got to match that with all our good play but still defend like that and then we will be getting towards being a good team.

“Every single player that went on the pitch did a job. That is what we need and what we are about as a team and a squad, digging in as we did.

“We were playing against one of the best teams in the league and protected the clean sheet, and we did it in a way that the crowd like to see.”

Clough also had no complaints over the red card decision which ultimately changed the game.

“I have no complaints at all on the red. It is a reckless challenge and I’m not sure what was going through Owen’s mind,” he said.

“We were very good in the first half. It was a good game of football without loads of chances being created.

“I thought we played some good stuff with eleven and went to go toe-to-toe against one of the best sides in the division.

“The back three were outstanding whether with ten or eleven and It is important to keep our unbeaten run going at home.”

Delighted Clough also hailed the clean sheet in what he described as a benchmark for how to defend.

Mansfield head to Burton Albion next weekend as they go in search of a first win in four.

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