Midfielder Jack Blake says he enjoyed his senior debut as our side extended their unbeaten away run to six matches, following a 0-0 draw with Bury at Gigg Lane.
The 19-year-old, who joined us on a one-month loan from Nottingham Forest last week, believes we put in a good performance, but were unlucky not to be awarded a spot-kick when Ollie Palmer appeared to be brought down inside the area in the first half.
āI certainly enjoyed the game,ā said Blake. āIt was a very feisty game with a lot of things going on but I fully enjoyed it.Ā
āWe all worked hard and in the first 10 minutes. We made sure that we stayed positive and started the game brightly with a good tempo.
āThe team put in a really good first-half performance and should have finished some of our chances. We could have been one or two goals up.ā
Commenting on the incident, which saw Palmer go to ground inside the area, he said: Ā āFrom where I was, it looked as though it was clearly inside the box, but at the time the referee has made a decision and stuck to it.Ā
āFrom where I was standing it looked like a penalty and a lot of the lads thought the same from talking about it after the game.
āHeās given a free-kick and unfortunately thereās nothing you can do about it, once the referee has given a decision.ā
Meanwhile the youngster also believes skipper John Dempster was unfortunate to receive a red card following his challenge on Shaun Harrad.
Blake added: āFrom where I was, I didnāt think it was a sending off. There was a tackle just before and that was feisty as well. John has gone in hard but I didnāt think it deserved a red card.
āOverall I think possession wise it may have been a fair result but if you had to say anyone deserved it more, then I would say Mansfield because we had the better chances including a one-on-one opportunity.
āIāve watched a lot of football growing up and I fully expected this. I loved every minute of it.ā
