Centre-back Alfie Kilgour says ‘all 11 players’ played a vital part in Stags’ clean sheet in a 0-0 draw with Sutton United at One Call Stadium.
The 24-year-old was part of Mansfield’s defensive unit which secured their second clean sheet in a row following Wednesday’s goalless draw at home to Grimsby Town.
Kilgour joined the amber and blue in January for an undisclosed fee from Bristol Rovers and has made 12 appearances for Nigel Clough’s side so far this term.
Speaking on today’s clean sheet, Alfie said: “It was [a] brilliant [defensive performance] and that’s all 11 players [that played a part in that], Pymy (Christy Pym) in goal, the front lads closing down [and] Ollie [Clarke] in midfield winning his tackles and there’s a real togetherness in the team.
“It’s important when they get the odd chance like they did that you react well [and prevent them from finding the back of our net].
“It’s a second clean sheet [in a row and] to a man the lads done well.”
Analysing Stags’ plethora of injuries, Kilgour said: “I hope Riley [Harbottle] is all right. I was right next to that one and it looked nasty. It looked like he was definitely unconscious when he hit the ground and I hope he has a speedy recovery.
“Elliott [Hewitt] smashed his nose but that's what they try to do, [make it hard for you physically].
“We’ve got lads coming back from injury as well. Reedy (Louis Reed) [was] back on the bench. Cal (Callum Johnson) is not far away [from returning and] Oatesy (Rhys Oates) is getting his full fitness back and hopefully it’ll click into place [for us] nicely.
“It’ll be an exciting end to the season with some of the lads back to full fitness."
The defender was named the sponsors’ man of the match at One Call Stadium and summed up the game, saying: “[It was] a physical battle.
“Obviously we had a couple of head injuries which probably sums up what the game was like. We dug deep, we defended well. Obviously the final pass wasn't quite right or the set pieces but [we picked up] a clean sheet and [it’s] something to build on [ahead of Crawley next weekend].
“I always do my best. I always work as hard as I can and do what I do, which is try and be a defender. It was tough to play today. You saw they had a game plan but I think things are clicking into place and clean sheets [are] obviously building confidence."
