Mansfield Town

During a game in which both teams created numerous chances, Luke Jones was the only player to find the net; his shot from a Matt Green lay-off in the 62nd minute eventually sealing all three points.

“I thought it was one of the ugliest games I’ve been involved in and I said to the lads at half-time, it’s not about performances,” declared the former Eastwood Town boss.

“I’m glad the game is chalked off, because we knew coming here it was going to be a hostile environment, a bobbly pitch and we had to make sure we ground out a result.

“Although there wasn’t an awful lot of quality about us, there was a battling, fighting spirit. It was a second ball game, the ball seemed to be up in the air a lot, and we had to adapt and overcome that.

“I said at half-time it was going to be one goal that decided it, and it took ‘Jonah’ [Luke Jones] to score and set us on our way. The lads all worked hard for the cause.”

Our boss was also pleased with the performance of debutant left-back Greg Taylor, who joined us on loan from Luton Town for the remainder of the campaign earlier this week.

“He was solid and we had to be solid today,” continued Cox.

“We knew coming into it that it wasn’t going to be pretty. It was going to be a second ball, retention game, and I think the back four as a unit looked very solid.

“Against the boy Greg came up against today, [Adam] Cunnington, he’s six-foot-five and an absolute monster in the air, but I thought Greg coped admirably with him.”

Cox also admitted he was humbled with the visiting support today. More than 1,000 Stags fans descended on the Lamb Ground, outnumbering the home fans in the process, to cheer us on.

“A special credit has to go to the supporters. It’s very humbling when you see so many people turn out in force to support the lads. I’m proud of the support we had today.”

Our next game is against Gateshead at One Call Stadium on Bank Holiday Monday (kick-off 3.00pm).