Perfect time for Mansfield Town midfielder Aaron Lewis to score his first home goal for the club
Mansfield Town matchwinner Aaron Lewis picked the perfect time to score his first goal at the One Call Stadium as they pipped Shrewsbury Town 2-1 this afternoon.
Stags had fought back from going behind after two minutes and sub Lewis burst clear from a Keanu Baccus through ball to steal an 86th minute winner.
“Any game you score the winner in is always going to be good, no matter how the rest of it goes,” smiled Lewis.
“I just made a run in behind and, luckily, Keanu has found me and I just put it in the back of the net, so happy days.
“When you're through, you just try not to think about it too much.
“You know where the goal is so you just trust yourself and try to put it in the back of the net.
“It was my first goal for the club at home so it was a great time to get it.
“Being the winner that late on, there was relief to see it hit the net.”
That was back to back home wins in two weekends and Lewis said: “We have to make the home games count in this league as we know it will be tough going away.
“It is a lot easier to get the points at home with our home fans backing us, even though we get plenty away.
“We have good momentum at the moment.”
A mistake by Deji Oshilaja gifted Shrews an early opener.
“We conceded after 90 seconds but knew it's a long old game to get back into it and fix it. We didn't need to panic,” said Lewis.
“At half-time the gaffer said we needed to get at them a bit more, being at home, and we needed to be a bit better with the ball.
“Everyone came out flying and we deservedly got the two goals.”
Lewis is having to make do with a place on the bench for much of the opening fixtures as Stags try to make their mark at League One level.
“I have played at this level before so I knew what to expect,” he said.
“I am finding it okay when I get minutes on the pitch and feel I have been good with them.
“Our squad is as good as last year, if not better, so you know when you get on the pitch you need to make an impact, especially in this league.
“You don't get as many chances and you also get punished a bit more for your mistakes than we did in League Two.
“But we have shown that when we play well we can win games.”
Three minutes before his winner, Mansfield keeper Christy Pym made a crucial save to deny George Lloyd from close range.
“A save like that definitely puts us on the front foot as they would be feeling a bit deflated, so it was great work by Christy,” said Lewis.