Nigel Clough hails defensive display as Mansfield frustrate Stevenage

Posted Sunday, December 11, 2022 by PA

Nigel Clough lauded his side’s defensive performance as Mansfield became the first side to stop Stevenage from scoring this season in an attritional 0-0 draw.

The Stags reduced the hosts to almost nothing in front of goal, Luke Norris’s late effort at the death the first time Boro truly looked like troubling the visitors.

A game between two promotion rivals promised much yet turned into one for the purists in freezing conditions, but Clough was delighted with what he saw from his team.

“We were very pleased with our defensive display,” said Clough. “We’ve been conceding goals, especially on the road of late, and I thought as a team we defended brilliantly but were also a threat.

“Everybody did their jobs, all throughout the team, and that’s why you get the result.

“We did not create many chances but we’ve come away from home and Christy Pym has not had one shot to save.

“Not one, and you’re talking about a team that has won nine out of 10, just won 5-0 against fourth in the league last week and we’ve come here in slightly indifferent form; that’s the best we’ve defended all season.”

Clough switched to a back three in an attempt to neutralise a rampant Boro attack fresh from a 5-0 demolition of play-off rivals Barrow, with Ollie Hawkins flanked by Riley Harbottle and Elliott Hewitt.

The change worked a treat for the Stags, with Pym reduced to a spectator for much of his return to the Lamex Stadium, something Clough admitted was a key part of their preparation.

“We had to deal with their threat first and foremost,” he explained.

“We played a three at the back, we wanted the three centre-halves, it makes a difference with Hawkins in the middle and the athleticism either side of Harbottle and Hewitt.

“But it wasn’t at the expense of playing. I thought we knocked it about nicely. It was getting the balance between playing and stopping them.”

Clough claimed it would have been unjust had Boro striker Norris fired home late on, and home boss Steve Evans concurred with his counterpart as he admitted his side lacked quality in attack.

Evans has lost just twice at home since taking charge in Hertfordshire in March, and Boro once more looked hard to beat but failed to create enough chances for the visit of the Scot’s former employers.

“I think two good teams cancelled each other out,” said Evans. “A draw was written all over it after 15, 20 minutes.

“There were a lot of individual battles throughout the game on the pitch and think if we had a winner it would have been a little bit fortunate.

“We went, to a man, toe-to-toe, but we forgot to play in key areas of the pitch hence why we introduced Jake Taylor and Arthur Read.

“There’s no question about effort, application or energy from either side. Our efforts in trying to win were at the top end of the scale but we didn’t make the goalkeeper work.”

Norris’ chance with just minutes remaining was Boro’s best, with Mansfield coming closest inside the opening two minutes when Rhys Oates was denied when through on goal by Taye Ashby-Hammond.

The point extends Boro’s unbeaten run in the league to six ahead of trips to in-form AFC Wimbledon and Leyton Orient.

Mansfield have been regular visitors to the League Two play-offs in recent times, and Evans believes the draw is a good barometer of his side’s progress.

“The way we look at it, we’re 10 points clear of a team that’s got three times the resources – I know, I’ve been there,” added Evans.

“He [Clough] has built a fantastic squad so we’ll take the point against a team that will be fighting for promotion come April.”