The last word: A valuable point as Mansfield Town's fighting spirit shines through once again
Any point has to be a good point when you’ve trailed 2-0 early in the second half.
Looking at the bigger picture it's perhaps an even better point with Stags increasing the gap on the bottom four to seven points.
This time last week it was a five point gap, but thankfully Blackpool have lost their last two games while Stags are doing exactly what they need to do by keeping the points tally ticking over nicely.
The Barnsley game was certainly a good ding-dong battle and a classic game of two halves. It’s one that Barnsley feel they should have won with Conor Hourihane saying the ref cost them the game by not giving the Reds a penalty for what could have been deemed a handball by Deji Oshilaja in stoppage-time.
You’ve certainly seen them given but, as Stags have found to their cost as well, you’ve certainly not seen them given as well.
Either way, it wasn’t awarded and Stags took full advantage of their stroke of luck. If anything it could have been Stags who went on to win it if there had been another ten minutes or so left on the clock.
It’s a performance though that really sums up what Stags are all about nowadays. It would have been easy to feel sorry for themselves and think ‘it’s not our day’ but that’s not Nigel Clough’s Stags of course.
This side have real fight and determination in there and in the end the lads delivered what was a real masterclass in how to get back into a game.
Stags lacked that extra bit of energy and oomf in the first half with Clough not-wanting to tweak the side too much from the one that bagged a huge win against Reading.
It’s been a pretty punishing run of games recently with a lot of energy expended against Arsenal and Reading, so a flat half is perhaps understandable and can certainly be forgiven.
What a difference the subs made though, especially Nathan Moriah-Welsh’s introduction. He brought energy and a real threat in and around the edge of the box, winning the penalty that got Stags back in the game seconds after coming on.
Regan Hendry and Elliott Hewitt both freshened it up nicely as well after coming on at half-time, with Hewitt offering some nice width and decent crosses down that right flank as Stags pushed hard in the closing stages.
Lucas Akins didn’t have the impact he would have wanted and looked a little lost out wide in the first half.
He certainly came into his own after the half-time tweaks though, dispatching his penalty expertly and looking a real handful once he went up top with Will Evans.
There were plenty of good performances all over the pitch and Deji certainly deserves a big shout out for the huge block he made where he put his body on the line to stop Barnsley tapping home another goal moments after their opener.
Both Deji and Flazer Blake-Tracy made some really key tackles and blocks at important moments to keep Stags hanging on in there during a difficult spell midway through the first half. That determination in the end got its reward.
It’s a big week ahead now for Stags with a tough midweek trip to play-off chasing Bradford followed by perhaps a far more important game on Saturday against a Northampton side who are really struggling right now.
The Cobblers, with just one in their last 17 games and no away win since, November 29, looked nailed on to be joining Port Vale in League Two next season.
Stags certainly looked so much better when they went on the front foot and took the game to Barnsley, and you would expect they will look to rip into Northampton from the off against a side who are there for the taking. By this time next week Stags could very well have gone a long way to wrapping up survival.