Mansfield Town midfielder George Lapslie praised the Stags’ supporters for their role in today’s 1-0 victory at to promotion rivals One Call Stadium.
The 24-year-old enjoyed playing in front of the One Call Stadium crowd again, after the Stags had faced five consecutive away matches in the league.
And after victory today, he said: “It was class to be fair. It [was] near enough a sell out and they [the fans] were as loud as ever. Thank you to all the fans for getting down to see us again today.”
“The fans all game [were] just singing and singing. You could see even during the last 15 minutes when we were on our knees, the fans kept us going. You can’t say any player stopped out there until the final whistle.
“[It’s] a fantastic feeling, we were playing against promotion rivals today so getting the three points is massive.
“If they get behind us like they did today, which I have no doubts that they will, we’ve got every chance [of achieving promotion].”
Oli Hawkins’ guided header on 21 minutes secured an 11th straight home league victory for Mansfield, setting a new club record.
The goal scorer was named as the sponsors’ man of the match and Lapslie credited the 29-year-old’s performance. “He was class all day,” he said. “He dominated his striker, he was winning free-kicks, he was a massive attacking threat for us. [It was a] dominant performance from him [and I’m] buzzing for him.”
Hawkins’ victory-securing goal moved Mansfield back into the Sky Bet League Two play-off places, level on points with third-placed Port Vale. And Lapslie is keen for the team to remain level headed and focus on their next task in hand, a midweek trip to league leaders Forest Green Rovers.
“We’ve still got eight [games] left so there’s a lot of points to play for,” he said.
“[We’ve] just got to take it game by game now, as cliché as it sounds.
“None of the games will be a ‘given’ we know that. [We’ve] just got to focus on Forest Green first, hopefully we can get into them early doors and get a decent result there.
“Nothing was won or lost today, if we go and get a result on Tuesday [the table will] look even better us. Tuesday is the most important one for us. I can’t wait for Tuesday.”
The Londoner returned to Mansfield’s matchday squad against Newport County last month and has since netted twice for the Stags, most notably in the 95th minute against Oldham Athletic on 26 March.
“I’m enjoying it,” he said. “I had a little quad injury that was niggling at me. I asked gaffer [if I could] have a bit of a break and now I just feel as though I’m ready to go again.
“Hopefully it happened at a good time, when I came back there was still a quarter of the season left. Hopefully I can [have] a strong end to the season now.”
Watch Laps' interview now by clicking here.