Manager Nigel Clough again commended the character of his squad as Stags took a huge step towards a top three finish with a scintillating 4-1 win at promotion rivals MK Dons.
Stags staged an almighty fightback to record a momentous victory with three games of the season remaining.
And now a win on Tuesday at home to Accrington would seal a long-awaited promotion, although even a point would effectively be enough, given Stags’ superior goal difference.
Asked about the significance of today’s win, Nigel said: “It’s huge. The magic number before today was seven and realistically with the goal difference, it’s down to one. The character we have in the squad is capable of getting us results like today.”
Stags had to come from behind to secure maximum points and analysing the match, Nigel said: “We set up in a certain way to try and frustrate them and break, but it didn’t quite work out.
“We wanted to get down the side of the centre-halves and that’s why Will Swan was playing today and the goal actually came from that.
“One of the reasons why we’re the top goalscorers in the league is because we try and go forward. We didn’t set up in a negative way, we just set up in a certain way to try and hurt them. The impact and influence of the subs, I thought they were absolutely magnificent when they came on.”
Top goalscorer Davis Keillor-Dunn was introduced at the break and hit the double and set up another to sweep aside the Dons.
“Davis has had a bit of a tough time the last three or four games,” said Nigel. “He was raring to go and came on and got us a couple of very good goals, despite the second one being about the eighteenth attempt from where we were.
“I think Hiram must’ve had two or three goes, then Davis had two or three goes, but it was just important that it went in in the end.
“I thought Tom Nichols after his first ten minutes was very good when he came on and then you had the likes of Davis and Galey [James Gale] running. You have to have that purposeful running, with intent to actually go and get a goal and any team will look vulnerable when we break like that.
“All season we’ve said to the lads ‘we don’t like hanging on’, let’s go and hurt them when we can and try and get more goals. When the third goal went in that really put the cap on it and Galey pops up with a fourth one to top it all off.”
Looking ahead to a mouth-watering promotion-clinching prospect on Tuesday, Nigel said: “We’re still not there. Tuesday night is a big night for us and we want to get it done as soon as possible.”
