Manager Nigel Clough highlighted his side’s ‘clinical finishing’ in a stunning 9-2 win over Harrogate and said that his men will ‘not get carried away’ with 15 games of the season remaining.
Stags equalled a club record league victory as they surged to a 5-0 lead at the break and then hit another four past Harrogate in the second-half.
It included the visitors netting two goals within the space of a minute in a pulsating, thrill-a-minute match at One Call Stadium.
“For a team to go six-nil down away from home and then score two goals I think says an awful lot about their character as well.
“Tonight, I think most teams in the league would have struggled to cope with us.
“I thought we were very good from the off. I think we threatened to get big totals [in games earlier in the season] and we’ve scored four on the road three times this season, which is a lot of goals, so we’ve got that in us.
“I thought it was an exhibition in winning the ball and when you do win it, hurting the opposition and finishing it. The nicest thing was when we got in the positions, we really made it count.
“Tonight we’ve been extremely clinical in our finishing, with very good finishing all through the game.
“The confidence flowing through the team at the moment and the forward players is greater than it has been for the past five or six months and that’s what you see on display tonight, when you get in those positions and hitting the target.”
On Hiram Boateng’s hat-trick, Nigel said: “We thought he was ready for a game. He’s been excellent in training. He nearly went somewhere on Deadline Day and it didn’t quite happen which we were very happy about.”
Despite a record victory, the manager was disappointed seeing his side concede two goals inside 60 seconds.
“That was the only downside of the evening. Lucas gave the ball away and we should all react a bit better. But then to concede the second compounds it. I don’t like those sorts of things when you concede two in a minute. It sounds silly but the game’s not in doubt and the result’s not in doubt, but just don’t concede those goals.”
The manager then warned against complacency, saying: “Everybody is full of confidence but we won’t be getting carried away. There are 15 games to go and nobody’s won anything yet.”
