'Really tight': Nathan Moriah-Welsh discusses Jon Russell link-up as Mansfield Town duo score four goals against Luton
Nathan Moriah-Welsh and Jon Russell were men on fire against Luton Town as they contributed four of Mansfield Town’s five goals.
The duo tallied a brace and an assist each in what was a dominant attacking performance for Stags on Sunday.
Russell in particular came back to haunt the Hatters after scoring two goals in their last meeting as well, only this time Mansfield ensured they secured all three points.
Moriah-Welsh opened the scoring and his own portfolio for the season with a goal after just 17 minutes, with Russell providing the assist. He then found the back of the net again with a superb strike from just inside the box, almost tearing the net down in the process.
Russell scored his two goals in the second half, after Louis Reed made it 3-0 to Stags at half-time, with Moriah-Welsh providing the assist for the midfielder.
Discussing the build-up to his first goal, Moriah-Welsh said: “We’ve worked on that a lot in training and they usually go in, so I’m glad it went in today. Russ with an assist as well, which was nice, me and him have got a nice connection, so it was a nice goal.
“Me and Russ are really tight, so if he isn’t scoring, I’m scoring – it’s a good feeling. It was nice to get in on the goals today.”
He then said it was ‘a relief’ to score the second as the One Call Stadium erupted from his thunderous effort.
“I’m trying to get some stats on the board and I got three today, which was a bonus but I’ve just got to keep it going. As a team we’ve got to keep it going, hopefully across the board we can get as many goals and assists, which accumulates into points on the board.”
Sunday’s clash against Luton was Moriah-Welsh’s first League One start of the season, and her certainly made it count. With the level of competition in Nigel Clough’s side at the moment, rotation is expected across the board and the 24-year-old ensured he grabbed this opportunity with both hands.
“The performance today is a testament to how we are in training. If we can get that correlation more in games, we will be a force to be reckoned with,” he said.