Mansfield Town

Mansfield Town midfielder Mitchell Rose believes the most eye-opening outcome from Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Leicester City was how much the team has improved as a whole over the summer.

Rose picked up the sponsors’ man of the match award for his combative performance in the heart of the midfield, as Matt Green’s penalty secured a well-deserved draw with Claudio Ranieri’s Leicester City.

The 21-year old spoke about how hard the team had been working to prepare for the visit of their Premier League opponents, and as a result what the fixture has taught him.

Rose said: “The most important thing I learned from the match was how much we have improved. Everything that the manager has drilled in to us from day one of pre-season, we’ve put that together against a very good Premier League team today. 

“We were competing with them and they were struggling more against us than we were with them. It was a good overall team performance today.”

Having matched MK Dons player-for-player during Tuesday’s 1-1 draw, the Stags were handed an ever greater task of competing with a side in the top division of English football.

Rose believes that the team’s performance was made up of good communication throughout the side, and working hard in all areas of the field.

Rose continued: “We showed great character, togetherness and everything we wanted to do, we showed in our performance. 

“It was difficult when they changed their team up and I had to deal with Jeffrey Schlupp’s pace down the line, but our hard work showed and our ability to stay in the game and grind out a very good result. Each game, each training session and every week we have to push our levels and improve, and today we set ourselves very high standards.”

With that battling mentality and never-say-die attitude, Rose has no worries heading towards the seasons opening game against Carlisle United on Saturday 08 August.

“Our motive will never change; we will always want to go out there and get three points whether that’s against Premier League opposition or League Two” said Rose.

“We just need to keep working and training hard, and what we can take out of today’s game is that we will go right until the end in every game this season.”