Match-winner CJ Hamilton was delighted to score his first goal for the Stags after bagging the winner in tonight's 2-1 Checkatrade Trophy win over Notts County.
Stags took a very early lead when forward Lee Angol found the bottom corner after just 47 seconds before County responded through striker Alan Smith, the former England international turning the ball home from close range on 34 minutes.
Former Sheffield United winger Hamilton then made his mark with just over quarter of an hour to go as he blasted a shot into the roof of the net with his right foot to give Stags their first win in this season's Checkatrade Trophy.
The 73rd-minute strike was Hamilton's first competitive goal for the Stags and the winger was visibly delighted to open his account for the club.
"It was so frustrating not being able to get a goal in the last 12 months and to finally get one, just getting off the mark is what you want," Hamilton said.
"You'd never expect it, right footed. I just thought I'd hit it with everything I've got and, luckily, it went in.
"I caught it so sweetly; I could see the path of the ball already and I was thinking: 'yeah, this is in' and that was it."
Hamilton was also full of praise for his team-mates who put in a terrific performance to secure their second win over the Magpies in the last few weeks following a 3-1 league victory at One Call Stadium in September.
"I caught it so sweetly; I could see the path of the ball already and I was thinking: 'yeah, this is in' and that was it."
"It's just a great shift overall by the boys, obviously we dug deep and we got the victory in the end.
"The boys dug very deep; from the back four to the midfield to the strikers running their socks off, everyone put in a very good performance today.
"Everyone's happy to get another win and hopefully we can bounce on and get another win at the weekend."
Despite Stags' boss Steve Evans admitting that the Checkatrade Trophy isn't a priority this season, Hamilton believes it is important to build a winning mentality.
"We want to start winning games on the bounce so there was still a lot of pressure on us to get the victory.
"We got told we could play with a lot more freedom and we were trying to pass it and get the ball down a lot more and create opportunities which you saw we did, which was good for all the boys."
Supporters will be able to login to iFollow Stags to view CJ Hamilton's post-match interview later tonight.
