Penalty-saving hero Scott Shearer declared the 2-1 victory over Morecambe this afternoon as the most satisfying win in his time at the club.
The 34-year-old dived the right way on two occasions to ensure Paul Mullin and Shaun Miller saw their respective spot-kicks saved.
But the Scot was humble about his achievement – while he believes the triumph was one he is most content with, he humbly points the credit towards first team performance analyst Sean O’Callaghan for his work behind the scenes.
“I don’t think I’ve been involved in a game when two penalties have been given. Luckily we’ve got Sean on board who works very tirelessly for the rest of the lads, and myself and Brian – so a big thank you to him for that.
“The club have got him part-time but he works a lot more hours than that. He goes back to previous seasons, checks what they do, any similarities, any patterns. He gives us all the information we need.
“A lot of the lads in front of me have absolutely run their socks off today and they worked unbelievably. This was the most satisfying win I’ve had since being at the club, I feel.”
The ex-Crawley Town stopper believes the contest had a feeling of déjà vu about it, and also spoke about how he had to remain patient in the time that Brian Jensen was Adam Murray’s preferred choice between the sticks.
“It’s just nice to win the game – it shows the character we’ve got in the team. We’ve done it last Tuesday night to the same team, we came back very late on. In this game we’ve done exactly the same, we’ve relaxed ourselves, got ourselves composed and got back in the game with two really good goals.
“I’ve worked tirelessly, when the big man (Brian Jensen) was in the net, waiting for my chance and as it goes with goalkeepers you don’t get many chances so you’ve got to take it when you get it, so that’s my mindset.”
Looking ahead to Stags’ next two matches away from home, Shearer reckons that the side should relish the opportunity to show other teams what they’re capable of.
“We’ll just take the next game as it comes, we’ll prepare for Oxford as of tomorrow. We’ve got to go into the game realising we’re in a really good run at the moment, we should be fearless and go and enjoy the football.
“Winning becomes a habit. The feeling within the group increases and increases and everyone has a real belief with what we’re trying to achieve.”
You can watch Shearer’s post-match interview on Stags Player.
