Midfielder Jamie McGuire believes our players’ hard work in training paid off in our 1-1 draw at Oldham Athletic yesterday.
The Stags fell behind to a stunning solo goal by Korey Smith on 28 minutes, but equalised just before half-time after Sam Clucas’ bullet free-kick found the back of the net.
Clucas' leveller ultimately earned us a well-deserved replay, which will take place at One Call Stadium later this month.
McGuire, who was returning to the team following suspension, admitted he was at fault for the Latics’ goal but praised our team’s performance overall.
“We will take that result all day,” said the 30-year-old. “Following the run we have been on this is a good result.
“The lads were great and dug in after we went a goal down. I gave a sloppy pass away, but we responded well following (Sam) Clucas’ free kick.
“We did really well and had a few chances ourselves, as well as limiting them to only a couple of opportunities during the second half. I’m really proud of how well the lads have done.
“From working on our shape all week, we knew that we needed to keep Korey Smith quiet anyway. We know he likes to get the ball and cause danger.
“The whole team did try to do that in the first half, but he has gone on to score a really good goal after a stupid mistake by me, but in the second half, we did our job well.”
McGuire added: “We’ve worked hard in training trying to put things right, because we have been making a lot of mistakes in games [recently].
“All week in training, we’ve worked hard cutting these mistakes out and I think we showed that on the pitch.”
