Mansfield Town defender Baily Cargill was delighted to net his fourth league goal of the season in Stags’ outstanding 5-1 home victory over Salford City.
The left-back was on target as the hosts comfortably recorded a third consecutive home victory to lift themselves to the summit of Sky Bet League Two.
Cargill netted Stags’ crucial second in stoppage time at the end of the first-half, latching on to Stephen Quinn’s arrowed cross to poke the ball home at the back post.
Will Swan opened the scoring for Mansfield on 18 minutes before Junior Luamba equalised 24 minutes later. Cargill importantly restored Stags’ lead going into the break, a factor he felt was imperative to the final result. He said: “If we’d gone into half-time [with the score] 1-1 we’d have been a bit disappointed.
“[The second goal] Just gave us a lift. It’s a different team talk then.
“If we go in at 1-1 we’ve got to come out and get more goals. Instead we went in at half-time and said ‘if we don’t concede any more goals we’ll win the game’.
“[We were] Brilliant again. We had loads of chances. It was a similar sort of game to Harrogate.
“First-half we could have easily been 4-1 up, but second-half we were a bit more ruthless [in front of goal]. We got the third goal and that settled us down a bit.
“We’ve been really good at home recently so long may that continue.”
The summer signing described his goal to iFollow Stags after the match: “I sort of gambled [on a ball arriving to the] back post. I definitely got something on it, maybe he [Ryan Watson] did too but I’ll be claiming it for sure. I should have wheeled away [in celebration] really, but it’s not in my nature.
“The gaffer had a go at me earlier on in the season [about not attacking the space at the back post]. I just saw the ball coming and I thought somebody might flick it [over to me] and I managed to get a toe on it.
“I’m really enjoying my football at the minute. Playing left back, I think I’m getting to grips with that now. It’s not my natural position but I’m really enjoying playing there. I feel good.”
The Mansfield number 6 lauded the Stags’ faithful after the encounter and credited them with making yet another significant influence on the pitch: “[The stadium] was rocking today.
“They’ve [the fans] been amazing all season really, home and away. The atmosphere was amazing. Long may that continue, especially at home. We’ll need them for the last 13 games.
“It was nice [to have home supporters behind both goals]. I saw them down the end there, why not use it [the extra seats] when we can?”
