Captain Ollie Clarke says today’s performance at Doncaster should ‘set the standard’ for displays away from home for the remainder of the season.
Stags earned a 3-1 win courtesy of goals from Clarke, George Maris and a penalty from Lucas Akins.
It was Mansfield’s first away win of the season following three losses on the road.
And it was the skipper who got Stags going with a stupendous volley from outside the box with a quarter of an hour played.
“It’s one of the better ones of my career,” said Clarke on his goal, speaking to iFollow Stags.
“I don’t think I’ve struck as many as sweet as that.
“When you see it nestle in the net like that, I was quite shocked myself to be fair!
“I was half expecting it to go up behind the goal. Thankfully I caught it sweet and it got us off to a good start.”
The former Bristol Rovers man explained why he believed Stags were so dominant this afternoon.
“After the first 10, 15 minutes, I think we dominated pretty much the whole game.
“We pressed them high, winning second balls and did exactly what we’re good at.
“We were high energy and created a lot of chances. We should have been two to three goals up at half-time.
“It was much better than last week [at Sutton] and it’s probably set the standard now for us to go on and kick on away from home.
“We’ve obviously got stuff to develop and build on but as a team, so far, that was probably one of the better performances [of the season so far].”
Stags were backed by 2,826 vociferous Mansfield supporters this afternoon and Clarke had this to say about the impact of their backing.
“When we’re driving into them in the second half that gives us that lift and momentum and they kind of sucked the ball in in the second half. They drove us on.
“With theatmosphere they created, it was almost like a home game.
“When you come to a place like this, they probably gave us an extra five to 10 percent to do well. They were like our twelfth man. They helped us out massively.”
