Nigel Clough says Mansfield Town must learn to keep the ball better after victory over Cambridge United

Lee Gregory bagged a fine brace as Stags beat Cambridge United to bag their first home league win of the season.

But Clough was left disappointed by his side’s failure to look after the ball better.

“We should keep the ball better, we have to keep it better or the opposition will hurt you,” he said.

“There are some lessons from today. We gave it away far too much all over the pitch.

“We get a little bit too frustrated at times and try to get forward too fast. You have to be more patient at this level and we have to learn that quickly and be better.

“When you do give the ball away you don’t get it back as quickly as in League Two.”

But Clough was pleased with his side’s ability to grind out the result, with Clough believing the competitive match against a struggling Cambridge side shows the true quality of League One.

“It was backs-to-the-wall and we got away with a couple,” he said. “I thought Cambridge were very good indeed.

“It just shows the step up from last season and the quality in the league. It couldn’t have been any more difficult today.

“We had to throw bodies at the ball just to get that result.

“Cambridge have some really good competent players, they are struggling at the wrong end of the table and it just highlights the strength of this league.”

Josh Stokes saw a shot comfortably saved by Christy Pym during a cagey opening 15 minutes.

Gregory put Mansfied ahead on 39 minutes after a fast interchange involving Will Evans and Hewitt created an opening.

But Longelo levelled with a thumping finish five minutes after the restart following a brilliant counter-attack.

The visitors saw a strong penalty shout waved away after Shayne Lavery went down following a challenge by Deji Oshilaja on 65 minutes.

Mansfield found the winner three minutes later when Gregory curled home a beauty from just inside the box.

Pym saved brilliantly to block from Dan N’Lundulu deep in stoppage-time before producing an even better low save on the line to deny Sullay Kaikai with the last kick of the game.