Nigel Clough pleased to see Mansfield ‘dig in’ for Barrow victory

Posted Sunday, October 09, 2022 by PA

Nigel Clough admits he will take an ugly 1-0 win away from home any day of the week after that is exactly what Mansfield took away from Barrow.

The Stags snatched a narrow victory through Jordan Bowery’s winner five minutes into the second half, and Clough could barely care less that it was a case of substance over style.

“It was dogged and dour and we came to a team that has had a really strong start,” said Clough. “I don’t mind it when we get in at half-time and the opposition haven’t created too much.

“We’ll take anything today, it was that sort of day, we’re not always going to be able to play brilliant football, we just had to dig in.

“Jordan scored and I don’t think he played very well, but if you score the winner and we come away with a win it doesn’t matter.

“I don’t think we were brilliant but in our last two performances at home we’ve played some brilliant football and it was a different set of qualities that we required today.

“They didn’t have any chances in the first half, and we didn’t either. I think when you’re away from home you’re never too disappointed to get in at half-time and it’s still at 0-0.

“I said to the players at half-time that it might be one of those days where we don’t play very well but we get a goal from a set play.

“Honestly, these 1-0 away wins are vital over the course of a season.”

Clough’s opposite number Pete Wild, who was shown a yellow card in the second half, was livid at the performance of referee Tom Nield.

Wild was adamant that opposition midfielder Ollie Clarke should have been shown a second yellow card, and that his side should have had a late chance to equalise from the penalty spot.

Despite Barrow suffering a third straight league defeat – and slipping three places to ninth – he insists the club is still making progress, however.

“We deserved a point out of that game,” he said. “Last year teams were turning up here and rolling us over really easily and that’s not happening now.

“The game was won in both boxes, there was nothing between the two teams, but it’s been won with set pieces, which we’re normally good at.

“We haven’t taken our chances at the other end and that’s ultimately where we have to get better, we have to start taking our chances and killing teams off.

“We’ve had a massive penalty shout in the last minute and for some reason the officials haven’t seen it, or they’ve turned a blind eye to it.

“This time last year the club was third-bottom of the league and going nowhere, so the strides we’ve made are fantastic.

“My remit from the chairman coming into the season was to progress the football club. We’re well on track to do that and we’ll keep doing that.

“Some teams started slowly and have got going, we started well and have hit a bump at the moment. It all levels itself out over the course of a season so we’re not worried, we’ll keep going, keep picking up points and we’ll be fine.”