Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough says that he values the point earned tonight ‘an awful lot’ considering his side’s numerical disadvantage for much of the second-half as Stags drew 0-0 at home to Newport County.
Tuesday night’s fixture ended in stalemate after the amber and blue were left to play almost 40 minutes with ten men following the dismissal of James Perch.
And Nigel reiterated that, despite the Exiles’ poor start to the season and league position, they are still a top side,
“We value it [the point] an awful lot, when you’re playing 40 minutes with ten men.
“I think people forget that Newport have been up there for the last three, four, five years and are a strong side.”
Summing up the performance, he said: “We played some good stuff, but then having to play what, 40 minutes with 10 men, to get a clean sheet out of that, and not get back-to-back defeats, is important.
“It keeps the unbeaten run going here at the One Call.”
The boss believes that just prior to the sending off, his side were looking dangerous,
“For the first 10, 15 minutes before the sending off, I thought we were just getting into our rhythm and hitting our stride.
“[We had] Good passing, good movement, getting a couple of chances.
“Then you go down to 10 men, it's a different game.”
Key injuries for Mansfield forced Nigel to rearrange the squad for tonight’s game,
“We didn't have wing-backs tonight, so that's why we started with the back four.
“Kieran Wallace did really well for 45 minutes, he's not played for a long time.
“We changed after about half an hour. We thought we'd get Jordan back in his normal wing back role. I thought we looked a bit more comfortable with that.
“I thought the football we played in the first half was good. We were struggling to get through the middle of them but at the start of the second half, I could see it [Stags upping the ante] coming.
“It's sort of patching up here and there as we go. [I] can't wait till we get them all fit.
“It's been like that for a few weeks now, it will be nice to get to the situation when the games calm down a bit in November [and] get everybody back on the pitch.”
The boss says the team have missed Rhys Oates’ prowess and is relishing the chance to get him back playing.
“We haven’t had a settled side due to injuries or whatever,” said the boss.
“We've pencilled him [Rhys] in for four weeks tonight for the Papa John's game.
“If we can get him back on the pitch, that will be a huge boost sooner rather than later.
“He’s our leading goal scorer and he's the biggest threat that we have and when you don't have him nights like tonight or Saturday, sometimes it shows.
“That's why we've done brilliant to be in a position we’re in, we’re fourth in the league still.
“I think we're in a great position considering we've been without him.”