Mansfield Town

Inside the ninth minute, Stags’ frontman Matt Green headed home to net his eighth goal of the season, but Luton responded in the second half with Cameron McGeehan’s 25-yard effort.

And captain Collins said he would have 'taken a point before the game if offered'.

“We came out the blocks and Greeny (Matt Green) can’t do anything wrong at the minute – I’m buzzing for him," said Collins, who started in a defensive midfield role at Kenilworth Road today.

“They (Luton) only had one really good chance and it’s ended up in the back of the net.

“We were starving for that second goal to kill them off a bit. We tried to chuck bodies forward and exploit them with our counter attack tactic but unfortunately we didn’t get a second and they’ve stuck one in.

“They [Luton] have this great crowd behind them and have no other option but to bomb forward, but we dealt with it well to nullify a lot of their attacks."

Praising the work of his team-mates, Collins said: “The back four was really solid today. I thought it was really disciplined from the midfield, especially the two on the outside. It was a real man’s performance I thought.

“If you had offered me a point before the game I would have taken it."

Mansfield can boast of the second best defensive record in Sky Bet League Two, bettered only by leaders Plymouth Argyle.

After conceding just 13 goals in 14 league matches, Collins said: “It’s something we pride ourselves on, we did it last year.  It starts in training really."

The Stags’ captain spoke highly of a mid-week team-building exercise in Nottingham, where players had to work together in groups to escape from cryptic rooms.

“It gives lads that aren’t normally ‘a voice’ on the pitch the chance to show that they can lead in different ways. CJ (Hamilton) in particular really impressed me. He came out of his shell and took charge of our group.”

Stags PlayerHD subscribers can view Lee Collins' interview in full later tonight (Saturday).