Stags' debutant defender Callum Johnson relished the opportunity to play in front of the Mansfield faithful for the first time as Mansfield drew 1-1 with Crewe Alexandra.
The 26-year-old signed for Mansfield yesterday and superbly assisted George Maris in the 42nd for Stags’ opener.
Johnson was pleased with his attacking contribution, something he has worked into his game.
“Hopefully I showed what I can do with [putting] deliveries into the box,” he said.
“I like to defend first and foremost. [Then] get up and down [the wing] and put some good deliveries into the box and I think I did that.
“If we’d have gotten the 1-0 win, I think it would’ve been the perfect debut. We need to somehow cut out the errors and come away from these games winning 1-0 instead of drawing.
“I like to get the ball wide and put the ball in for the strikers. I keep trying to do my best and I keep practicing my crossing after training. I’ll keep putting them in and I’m sure Oatesy [Rhys Oates] will be [getting] on the end of them.”
The defender came close to grabbing a goal of his own.
“It just came to me and I tried to flick it [towards goal],” he said.
“I thought ‘I’ve got a good contact on that’ and then the keeper’s just flicked it over the crossbar. I thought it was in to be honest, but the keeper’s pulled off a good save.”
The January signing was encouraged by Mansfield’s performance and hopes to turn draws into wins in future matches.
“We showed some good spells in the game, where we had some good possession but there are things we can work on. There are definitely positives to take from it [the game].”
Johnson was spurred on to play in front of 6,149 vocal supporters inside One Call Stadium.
“I really enjoyed it,” he said.
“The fans were unbelievable, they were really good and behind us. When we were on top and had a few chances, I could hear them behind the goal, they were really loud. We need to start to get some wins and repay them.”
