Goalscoring hero George Maris says Stags were the better side in an all-action contest at Doncaster last night as Mansfield twice roared back to earn a point.
The midfielder climbed off the bench in the second-half shortly before the hour mark and found the bottom left hand corner to earn Mansfield a point.
Stags at least deserved a draw on a night where they suffered four injuries to players.
“There were a few scrambles in the box and they just wouldn’t fall our way. On another day we score three, four or five, but the amount of chances we’re creating will only stand us in good stead.
“All the lads just said, ‘keep on going and we’ll get something’. Luckily, I’ve put one in the back of the net but many of the lads could have done the same. “
Maris’ reflected on his equalising goal, saying: “[It was] On the left foot, I just hit it. I didn’t see it because there was a guy in front of me, but I just tried to get a good contact with my left foot and luckily saw it roll into the bottom left hand corner.”
And the ex Cambridge man praised the character of the squad to twice come from behind to salvage a valuable point.
“The squad’s good,” he said. “You look at the bench and the players not in the squad, it’s so good. We have competition for places everywhere and I know we’ve lost four bodies tonight but the lads who came on I don’ think made us weaker. I hope the injuries aren’t too bad because we don’t want to lose the key players but we have enough in the tank to win games.”
The goal and point caps off a special week for the midfielder, whose partner gave birth to their first child, a girl, at the weekend. “It's been tiring,” Maris added. I’ve not had much sleep. But I’m happy to get out the house and get a goal. We went into hospital on Saturday and came out on Monday afternoon so like I say I’ve not had much sleep, but she’s here and healthy and I can now enjoy my football.”
