Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough reflected on Stags’ first league loss of the campaign following a 2–1 defeat at Swindon Town this afternoon.
The Stags’ 17-game unbeaten run was ended as Jake Young netted a 93rd minute winner for the hosts.
The gaffer spoke to iFollow Stags post-match and said: “It was a very poor way to lose.
“Seventeen games unbeaten is remarkable at any standard and to give it away in the 93rd minute, having had enough chances to win the game, [was disappointing]. We just didn’t deal with the ball in the last few minutes.
“We’ve got a brilliant defensive record and we didn’t defend well enough from the set play and then in the last few minutes. That’s what has cost us the game, as well as missed chances.
“You could almost see it [the Swindon winner] coming. We’d had enough chances to go two or three ahead; Lucas hit the bar and Aaron Lewis had a lot of chances. Then, you make sure you just don’t concede.”
The manager was disappointed by the manner in which Mansfield conceded the first goal of the game; a 38th minute goal from a set-piece routine.
“The referee’s apologised for the mistake he made in the build up to the [first Swindon] goal,” he said.
“He should have given a foul to us, just before George Maris gave the free-kick away.
“And then Rhys Oates hasn’t done his job. If he’s going to go back there and defend, he has to do his job properly.
“[A potential offside decision was] very tight indeed. We’ll have to look back but it’s 50/50 whether you get them or not.
“There were certainly two penalties in the second-half, one for us and one for them.”
The boss changed things at the break, replacing George Maris and Jordan Bowery for Stephen Quinn and Lucas Akins.
On those substitutions, Nigel said: “It was just to change it up a little bit. I wanted those two back on the pitch and I thought they made an immediate impact.
“It was [a well-worked goal] as Lucas tucked it away with his left foot. From that point on you shouldn’t lose the game.
“It’s early for [Quinn] to come back. He had 60 minutes on Tuesday and if we’d been winning or drawing at half-time today, we wouldn’t have brought him on that early. He’s done another 45 so he’ll keep building up and hopefully in a couple of weeks time he’ll be nearly there.”
