Manager Nigel Clough says the character of his squad was central to Stags’ promotion this season.
The amber and blue waved goodbye to League Two after an 11-year stay as they finished third in the division.
Stags ended the campaign on a five game unbeaten run and completed a historic season with a 1-1 draw at Barrow, who narrowly missed out on the play-off spots.
Offering his commiserations to the hosts, he said: “The pressure was on Barrow and they needed a victory and they threw everything at us during the course of the game.
“I feel for Barrow. It’s heartbreaking when you lose out on the last day, as we did last season.”
Reflecting on a momentous campaign he said: “[It’s been] Absolutely incredible.
“To do it, you have to show many different qualities. Character is the main one. That’s what you need to get over the line.
“If you’d have offered us third place, on goal difference, at the start of the season I think everybody would have snapped your hand off.
“So to do it with two games to spare and to do it in the company of Stockport and Wrexham, everybody knows about their resources, and the manner in which we’ve done it - I think we’ve played some brilliant stuff.
“We’ve scored some brilliant goals this season and to see the fans before and after the game and to thank them and see a smile on their face is great.
“Home and away, they’ve been brilliant. They’ve backed us all season, right from Crewe on the first day.”
When asked to pinpoint some of the season’s landmarks, he said: “Going seventeen games unbeaten was so important and getting the victories at Notts and Stockport and without a doubt the one at MK Dons just about got us over the line.
“We’ve tried to entertain, we’ve tried to go forward and I don’t think there’s been too many games where you can come away and say ‘I don’t think we were very good today, we weren’t at it’. There’s an argument to say we’ve deserved something from the majority of the games this season, even the ones we’ve lost.”
He added: “The players have had a good ten days enjoying it, as they should. It showed a little in the second-half today. But we’ll enjoy it as staff in the next few weeks when we reflect and it’ll really sink in that we’ve done it.”
