Stephen McLaughlin gave special praise for Lucas Akins and George Lapslie after their first half strikes inflicted the damage on Gillingham to give Stags a 2-0 win this afternoon.
Akins got the ball rolling for Mansfield with a brilliant volley and after Lapslie converted from a tight angle there was no looking back.
And speaking to iFollow Stags post match, McLaughlin made a point to praise the duo’s display.
“Lucas Akins [and] George Lapslie, those two were the standouts today,” said McLaughlin.
“The workrate that they done up there, Lucas up on his own and Laps in and around him. Lucas, the hold up play, the flick on and Laps running in behind.
“You don’t realise what it does for us. I know when it goes up to him [Lucas], that I can go forward as well. I know he’s going to hold it, lay it off. It’s valuable what he’s done the last couple of weeks when he’s started up there.
“If Lucas didn’t hold it up the way he did we would’ve struggled to get into the game. His play today was exceptional.”
On the overall victory and performance, he said: “We dug in when we needed to and played our football when we needed to as well.
“[We] created the better chances, scored two great goals and we won a penalty as well.
“We want to play [the same] away from home as we do at home and I think you saw that there today.
“When the opportunity came to take it down, we got it down, we played wide and we attacked.”
Today’s victory against the Gills means the Stags are now unbeaten in their last three league games and McLaughlin said: “As you know with us, confidence is always good.
“You see the players that we have, the manager that we have. Confidence is always high.
“It’s going to kick us forward, I think, after that display there today.
“Coming to Gillingham [and getting a positive result] I think it’s going to do well for us going forward now.
“I’m looking forward to the next couple of months ahead.”
