Mansfield Town

The defender met Jack Thomas’ fine cross with a ferocious volley from well outside the area that left County ‘keeper Joe Day helpless.

Benning felt that he knew if he hit it well enough it would find the back of the net similarly to his strike at Dagenham & Redbridge last week.

“These last two volleys were just instinct,” he said. 

“I said before it was just instinct when it comes, I want to go for it and have a crack and they’ve gone in which I’m thankful.”

“I found myself up there and I saw Thommo (Jack Thomas) look at me and then look at the box and I thought ‘please Thommo just cross it to me’.

“He crossed it and I had no doubts about taking a touch; I heard people tell me to take a touch but I thought ‘why not just have a crack and see what happens’ and thankfully it went in.”

The two sides went in to the interval goalless despite the hosts having the lion’s share of the possession, but second-half strikes from Craig Westcarr, Benning and Adi Yussuf wrapped up the points for the Nottinghamshire club.

Despite eventually running out comfortable winners, Benning stated that manager Adam Murray’s words of encouragement at half-time helped push them over the line as they controlled the game from the outset.

Benning said: “I thought we dominated first half and it was a shame we couldn’t get a goal, but we came in and the gaffer was frustrated with us to be fair. 

“He told us we need to switch the play better, which we did in the second half, and finally broke them down, but after that first goal we needed to kick on and get the second one, which we did, and kill the game off.

Looking towards the future, the 21-year-old’s third strike of the season equalled his total tally during his time at former club Walsall, but the defender insists goals aren’t his first priority this campaign.

Benning continued: “My main aim is to keep as many clean-sheets as I am a defender but goals are a bonus and hopefully I can get a couple more and see what happens.

“My targets personally are to just be consistent and play as many games [as I can]. I’ve been in and out of teams at Walsall so I haven’t really ever had a run of games but obviously it’s up to me to keep performing and keep my place in the team.”