We deserved the luck we got to win at Oldham Athletic says Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough

Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough said Stags deserved the luck they got to snatch a late 2-1 victory at struggling Oldham Athletic this afternoon.
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Trailing 1-0, Stags hit back with a deflected equaliser and then a stoppage time winner that went in off George Lapslie's chest to keep their promotion push on course.

But Clough knows Oldham will be left cursing their luck as they battle to avoid relegation.

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“I have been saying this would probably be our most difficult game of the season so far for different reasons,” said Clough.

Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough .Photo by Chris Holloway/The Bigger Picture.mediaMansfield Town manager Nigel Clough .Photo by Chris Holloway/The Bigger Picture.media
Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough .Photo by Chris Holloway/The Bigger Picture.media

“Oldham have some good players, but when you are down there things go against you as we've seen today.

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“The teams fighting at the top get the breaks in the last minute.

“We have been down there over the years and every little thing seems to go against you and that was the case.

“I feel a little bit fortunate today.

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“But we deserved the luck we got today from earlier on in the season. “The season is balancing itself out from earlier on when things went against us.”

Clough added: “I thought we started alright for the first 20 minutes. But once they scored their goal it gave them a massive lift.

“We lost our way a little bit towards the end of the first half

“So I was pleased we came in only 1-0 down and pleased we were kicking towards our supporters in the second half.

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“We made a change and also made a change in formation and we were much better right from the kick-off.

“We went to a back four and got at them a little bit more and created enough chances in the second half to win the game.”

This was a fourth successive away trip for tired Stags with another long haul ahead of them at Hartlepool United on Tuesday night.

“It is affecting us massively,” admitted Clough.

“We are two odd hours up here on the bus and two hours back on the back of Rochdale the other night, getting in at 1am like the supporters. When they have run around the players feel it.

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“The starters are doing very little training. It's all about recovery.

“Hopefully we might change it round a bit on Tuesday and get one or two fresh pairs of legs out there as we will need it.

“We saw some mentally and physically tired players out there today.

“You look at Stephen McLaughlin, the captain, today and he's played almost every game this season, a lot of football, and he was really struggling at times today.”

Stags have midfielders Ollie Clarke and George Maris under treatment already and Kieran Wallace also took a knock today.