Striker Oli Hawkins was pleased to net a brace, but disappointed to see the Stags empty-handed following today’s slender loss at home to Bradford City.
Captain Ollie Clarke found the striker in front of goal in the 37th minute – to level the game - a cross Hawkins described as ‘perfect’.
The 6ft 5in striker then put Stags ahead with a close-range volley in the 52nd minute before Charles Vernam and Andy Cook struck the Bantams to victory.
Speaking of his first goal, the ex-Ipswich Town man said: "It was a great ball in, a pin-point perfect ball to be honest with you.” Hawkins said, praising teammate Ollie Clarke.
“We had a lot of crosses previous to that [which] I was just almost there [to meet] and some over my head.
“As long as there's balls coming into the box, if you can get five or six [to] myself and Danny Johnson it's likely we'll get on the end of them.
“[With] that first one today everything was perfect with the cross, the connection and the finish."
Hawkins’ second came by way of a volley inside the box.
"[It’s] not like me really to score volleys, especially with my weaker foot. Again I was in a great position and I connected with it really well.
“It's a good goal to go 2-1 up but it's a shame that we couldn't hold on.
"I'm happy that I got two goals for myself but disappointed that those two goals didn't contribute to three points.”
On the performance and result, Hawkins said: "I feel like when we took the lead we took our foot off the gas a little bit.
“We weren't really ‘at it’ like we were when we were 1-0 down and 1-1.
“It's something we've got to work on and it's relatively early in the season. We can eradicate those sorts of mistakes.
“There was a winning performance there at spells through the game and we should have probably held on.
“We've just got to focus now on the next few games and not make mistakes like we have done today. I definitely feel like this team can go on another run [of good form]."
iFollow Stags subscribers can watch Oli's interview in full by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow later today.