Stags’ boss Steve Evans believes his side's outstanding performance in today's 3-1 victory over Morecambe could have resulted in an even more emphatic scoreline.
A brace from striker Danny Rose and a cool finish by midfielder Ben Whiteman secured back-to-back wins for the Stags to ensure they move to within a point of the Sky Bet League Two top seven.
And the manager was pleased with how his dominant Stags’ side performed at the Globe Arena.
“I thought the performance was outstanding really. Even the most ardent Morecambe fan [would] think that could have been seven or eight today, as was our dominance,” the gaffer said.
“I thought the team were fantastic in spells today. We could have substantially won here today but we’d have taken 1-0, we’d have taken 2-1.
“We know how tough this place is to come; nothing changes from before the game, the manager here (Jim Bentley) should get award after award because he works miracles with what he works with.
“We’ve beaten a team who’s beaten a lot of the top teams here but it’s three points knocked off and we go again next week.”
Stags created a number of goalscoring opportunities from pressing the Morecambe defence high up the pitch and the boss says it is testament to the players, as well as assistant manager Paul Raynor, for their hard work on the training ground.
“[We've] worked hard on, since we’ve come in to the football club, making sure there’s a tempo in our play and a passion in closing people down and the boys have to produce that.
“We can coach it and we can teach it and Paul Raynor must take a lot of credit for the way he’s worked on it, but the players have grabbed it and I think for the last six or seven weeks, our football’s been fantastic.
“We’ve dominated every game we’ve played [in the last six or seven weeks]. Today, we got our rewards.”
Despite expressing his clear pride at his side’s performance against Morecambe, the gaffer explained that there is still room for improvement after Stags missed further chances to enhance the scoreline.
“We played some great stuff today but if we probably played with a little bit better quality in some aspects, the final ball in some aspects, we probably do win [by] seven or eight, such is the chances we’ve created.
“Probably three or four times in the second half we’ve gone two-v-one and we’ve not executed the final pass but from that point of view, I’ve always said to the players, if they work as hard as they’re working in training, they’ll get their rewards in games because there’s some fantastic ability in the squad.”
Finally, the boss gave a special mention to the 327 travelling Stags’ fans for their constant support throughout the encounter.
“I was really surprised with how many we brought today, this is a long way up the country.
“They took the disappointment of them equalising against the run of play with one ball and they stayed behind us when Morecambe had a little spell for five or ten minutes and had a bit of the ball.
“We got back in front and they deserved that type of performance because they’ve had some rubbish days [in the past].”
Supporters can login to Stags PlayerHD to view Steve Evans’ post-match interview.
