Winger Alfie Potter says that despite this afternoon’s 1-1 draw with Port Vale feeling like a loss, he is refusing to give up on Mansfield’s play-off dream.
Stags dominated for much of the 90 minutes at One Call Stadium, only to be cruelly denied all three points by Tom Pope’s 89th minute leveller.
It was goalless at the break, but it was very much one-way traffic, and that continued into the second-half. With all the chances that Mansfield were having, it was somewhat of a surprise that their opener came thanks to an own goal.
With less than 20 minutes to go, some pinball inside the Port Vale six-yard box ended in Kyle Howkins diverting the ball into his own net. That gave Mansfield a deserved lead but they weren’t able to hang on as with one minute of normal time to go, Port Vale captain Tom Pope hooked the ball into the net to secure a share of the points.
Speaking post-match, Potter was clearly devastated by not seeing out the victory.
“It does [feel like a loss],” he said. “We needed to win our remaining games so it’s a disappointing result today.
“It’s not over yet though. There’s still games to be played. Coventry and Lincoln have got to play each other and then Lincoln have got to go to Accrington Stanley, so points are going to be dropped.
“We just need to make sure we get six [points] out of six. Anything else and it’s game over for us.
“I genuinely do believe that points are going to be dropped by other teams and it’s going to go down to the last day. If that does happen, we need to make sure we’re taking care of ourselves.”
“It’s not over yet though. There’s still games to be played. Coventry and Lincoln have got to play each other and then Lincoln have got to go to Accrington Stanley, so points are going to be dropped.”
Reflecting on the game, Potter claims that he and his Stags teammates did more than enough to win, but were punished for not being clinical enough in front of goal.
“We’ve done enough to win two or three games. Just the last little bit let us down and it’s killed us like it has done many other times this season,” said the 29-year-old.
“From box-to-box we were very good, as good as we’ve been for a while, we just didn’t put the game to bed.
“We got into so many good positions and all of us were guilty today of either making the wrong decision or not finishing a chance.
“We needed the first goal today. We worked hard and first half we probably should have been one or two up but it didn’t come.
“If it had gone on any longer, you might have sensed a bit of desperation so when we got the goal it was a huge relief and I fully did expect us to go on and get two or three more. We haven’t and it’s cost us.”
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