Nigel Clough praises Mansfield Town's defending at Sunderland

Nigel Clough hailed Mansfield’s defending following their FA Cup heroics at Sunderland.
Nigel Clough was full of praise for his side's defending. Photo credit should read : Chris Holloway / The Bigger Picture.mediaNigel Clough was full of praise for his side's defending. Photo credit should read : Chris Holloway / The Bigger Picture.media
Nigel Clough was full of praise for his side's defending. Photo credit should read : Chris Holloway / The Bigger Picture.media

Stags defended valiantly to hold on to a fifth minute lead following Rhys Oates’ opener.

He said: “I think the organisation and the shape of the team restricted a very good side to just a handful of opportunities.

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“You’re always going to have a few scares but if you’re organised enough and enough of a threat on the break you have a great chance of winning the game.

“Everyone put a shift in today and that’s when you get your rewards. We’ve had Two clean sheets on the spin in two matches, it’s brilliant for our confidence.

“We’ve had a good week’s training again. A brilliant week’s training. We knew it was the sort of game where we were going to have to put a shift in and restrict them.

“Especially first-half I think we frustrated them. We shut down a lot of avenues that usually they would use to go forward.

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“We felt great pride when we got a 1-0 win against Sunderland last year and in some ways I thought it was a better performance today.”

Clough again sang the praises of Oates following another commanding display.

"We’ve seen the best of him in the last couple of games,” he said. “We were so keen to get him in the summer.

“If you’re a centre half you wouldn’t want to play against him. As a pair or on his own – we know he’s a menace.

“He tucked his away with a very, very good finish.

“Now he’s got a couple of goals and an assist in the last two games so he is full of confidence.”