Mansfield Town skipper Krystian Pearce revealed that he takes immense pride in boasting the best defensive record in Sky Bet League Two, following the Stags’ 18th clean sheet of the season.
David Flitcroft’s men produced a scintillating performance in the final third to secure a deserved 4-0 victory over Morecambe on Good Friday.
However, while eyes were firmly fixated on the Stags’ attacking endeavours, their defensive solidarity yielded yet another clean sheet.
And centre-half Pearce drew attention to this particular statistic with evident admiration.
“We think that’s number 18 for clean sheets,” the captain stated.
“I’m not sure if we’re top now but we’ve definitely got the best defensive record and we take pride in that – long may it continue.
“It’s always been a target from the start of the season. I think we might just fall short [of the club record] but there’s always next season.
“Keeping our focus and doing the right things have been key. Obviously, the boys in front of us work their socks off to help out the defence so it’s been a collective effort, not just the back three or five.
“Both of them [Preston and Sweeney] and top footballers and we just complement each other well. I think because we’re so close off the pitch it always helps.”
"Keeping our focus and doing the right things have been key. Obviously, the boys in front of us work their socks off to help out the defence so it’s been a collective effort, not just the back three or five."
A peerless defensive display was ultimately coupled with his fourth goal of the campaign – a fine effort in the 70th minute.
But the Stags’ stopper admitted that the victory was the most important aspect to rear its head from a superb afternoon of football.
“The win was the main thing coming into the game and obviously I’m a defender so the clean sheet is more important than the goal.
“I’ll always pick a clean sheet over a goal but the win is the main thing.
“I keep telling the boys I’m a fox in the box – hopefully they believe me now!
“I tried to show the boys how to dance as well, some of them got a bit scared but hopefully in a couple weeks’ time we’ll be doing it on the pitch together.
“It’s important we keep our momentum going into the critical part of the season.”
The 29-year-old also paid homage to the Stags’ faithful as 5,070 descended on One Call Stadium to witness their side’s 20th victory in Sky Bet League Two.
“It’s a very close team in the dressing and the support basically means it’s a big family,” he said.
“It’s a nice feeling to hear the fans chanting your name, I do appreciate it, and I think the excitement is there because we’re so close we just want to finish the job now.
“Mathematically it won’t be over unless others slip up again, but we just have to focus on what we’re doing.
“We’ll go to Oldham hoping to get three points and we’ll see where that takes us.”
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