The key things we learned from Mansfield Town's friendly win at Hucknall Town

The pre-season friendlies will take care of the fitness levels, with yesterday’s comfortable workout at Hucknall adding some more useful minutes into the legs of 21 players.

But bringing in new faces to add the necessary quality and depth to the Stags squad to meet the demands of League One football will be a more difficult task.

Nigel Clough has revealed that Stags are still short in forward areas and two of the club’s trialists did their chances of plugging that gap no harm at all.

Winger Ben Quinn - the nephew of veteran Stephen - coolly slotted home a first half penalty to make it two goals in two games.

It was a goal that capped a solid all-round display from the Celtic B man, who looked composed on the ball and showed good movement to find space and get shots away.

In the second half it was Eric McWoods who took the chance to show what he can do with another goal added to his tally.

He perhaps didn’t get into the game as fully as he would have liked, but he certainly showed enough glimpses of what he can do with moments of pace and power running with the ball.

Only Quinn will be joining Stags in Portugal for their training camp which may suggest interest is highest in offering the 20 year-old a permanent deal at the One Call Stadium. Quinn’s age is certainly a key area going in his favour, with Clough signalling that factor out in his post-match media briefing.

Discussions will be continuing with McWoods on his future plans and it will be interesting to see if the powerful American features in further friendlies.

While Stags need the depth for a tough campaign at a higher level, it was good to see the creative skills of Will Swan and Davis Keillor-Dunn looking as dangerous as ever.

Both entered the game at Watnall Road as part of Mansfield’s second half side. And both looked impressive, bringing bags of movement, energy and plenty of goal-scoring opportunities.

Back down the field Stags captain Aiden Flint will be another key component in how Stags get on this season.

At Hucknall, he won absolutely everything in the air and held the line beautifully, in fact if you looked up rock in the dictionary there may well be a picture of Flint in it.

Of course, the commanding central-defender will face much better forwards in the regular season, but with over 300 appearances at Championship level he certainly won’t be fazed by the jump in class.

The same can be said for Lucas Akins, who sat alongside Flint in the right-back berth, during the first half.

Akins has over 350 games at Championship and League One level and looked as dependable as ever during his time on the pitch. It is certainly an area that Stags will be strong in.