Nigel Clough admits he couldn’t be prouder of his players after Mansfield Town’s brilliant 1-0 win at Stockport County last night.

Sub Tyler Roberts struck the only goal of the game midway through the second half as Mansfield ended Stockport’s unbeaten home record in 2026.

“It gives me immense pride,” said Clough. “You learn a lot about players, squads and teams when you have nothing to play for.

“When you know you have just got safe, everybody is relieved and we’ve just had a ding-dong with Luton on Saturday, to come here and get the result and play as we did, I’m very proud of them.

Tyler Roberts scored Mansfield Town's winner two minutes after coming off the bench.

placeholder image — Tyler Roberts scored Mansfield Town's winner two minutes after coming off the bench.

“It was a brilliant away performance, they had a lot of the ball at times, but we didn't give up too many chances.

“It is another brilliant win and another clean sheet. We don't want to relax, we want to keep going.”

The statement win was built on yet another rock-solid defensive display with players putting their bodies on the line to earn a 15th clean sheet of the season on the way to victory.

“We had to make changes as well with Deji (Oshilaja) picking up an ankle injury, then Macca (McLaughlin) comes on and gets booked and we were a bit worried about that, so I had to put Will Evans back there,” said Clough.

“There was some switching about, but they all did their jobs. There were some unbelievably good headers in the last five or ten minutes, that honesty is what gets you the results.

“It’s what you have to do to get a clean sheet and to win games against such quality opposition. They are going to be in the play-offs and could well be in the Championship next season.

Clough was also quick to sign the praises of match-winner Roberts and his desire to see the striker back in a Stags shirt next season.

“If he is fully fit we start him every game we can,” added Clough. “We had a chat before the game about whether he could do 30 or 60 minutes.

“Tyler usually wants to start every time I ask him, but today he said he could probably do 30 minutes. He came on and made a big difference straightaway.

“We don’t want him to go into the summer injured after such an injury-hit season. I think it would be devastating for him to pick up something now. We want him fit at the end of the season so he can work over the summer and hopefully come back to us and we can see a bit more of him.”