Nigel Clough impressed with Mansfield’s second-half turnaround at Doncaster

Mansfield boss Nigel Clough said “a little chat” at the break was the spark for his side’s impressive turnaround in their FA Cup tie at Doncaster.

The Stags were a goal down at the break after Branden Horton put struggling Rovers ahead.

But Will Forrester netted within three minutes of the restart and Mansfield went on to win comfortably courtesy of George Lapslie’s brace, though Tommy Rowe narrowed the margin late on.

Clough was delighted with what his side produced, saying it was their best performance for some time.

“I was a bit frustrated at half-time with the way we had performed,” he said.

“I thought we were controlling the game but the goal we conceded was a bad one – we didn’t squeeze the play and gave them a tap-in.

“But we had a little chat at half-time and changed things around a bit and the second 45 was as good as we have been for a while.

“In normal circumstances you wouldn’t want George Lapslie and Jordan Bowery playing as wing-backs but we had eight players out, so it was an even better result in that context.

“Getting the first goal early in the second half was very important as it didn’t give them time to settle and, for the third goal, if you watch us in training we do that all the time and have got to score more goals like that.

“I want to see that one-touch, two-touch, three-touch around the area – that’s what we are trying to do.”

Doncaster caretaker manager Gary McSheffrey felt his side were made to pay for failing to make a positive first half count.

He said: “We’re disappointed not to get a result. We came out aggressively in the first half, pressed them well, forced errors and with a bit more quality and cutting edge in possession and decision-making we could have gone in at half-time two or three up.

“More cutting edge and maybe a bit more energy in the final third, we could have maybe been more comfortable.

“They made the change at half-time and for 15 minutes or so we didn’t have an answer.

“There comes a point when you have to take responsibility as individuals.

“We had three experienced defenders on from the start but it came to the point where I had to move Tommy Rowe out of there because I needed him higher up the pitch.

“You could see the momentum Mansfield had and we needed to respond to that. Once they got one, it was hard to stop that with the run they’re on as well.

“We need to be smarter with how we play too.”