Andy Garner proud as Mansfield fight back to beat Barnsley

Mansfield assistant manager Andy Garner said he was proud of his team after they came back from 2-0 down to beat Barnsley 3-2 in League One at Oakwell.

Reyes Cleary and Davis Keillor-Dunn put Barnsley 2-0 up in the opening 13 minutes before Louis Reed reduced the deficit from the penalty spot for Mansfield.

The Stags levelled through Stephen McLaughlin early in the second half before Aaron Lewis won the game late on.

Garner said: “At 2-0 down after 15 minutes, it’s not looking great is it?

“The massive importance was the penalty decision. I think they’ve given everything over the last few weeks but it’s just the disappointment of losing games and not getting anything out of them.

“But they never give in. It’s the same team again – they’re on their knees – they showed a lot of character.”

Cleary opened the scoring for Barnsley in the opening two minutes, latching on to a Patrick Kelly through ball before calmly putting it through the legs of Mansfield goalkeeper Liam Roberts, who had tried to close the angle at the near post.

It was the fifth goal of an already-impressive season for the tricky winger, who has lit up League One this campaign.

Keillor-Dunn made it 2-0 after 13 minutes as he combined well with a neat flick from Caylan Vickers – both former Stags players – before firing in from 20 yards.

He held his hands up to the travelling Mansfield fans before the Barnsley players jumped on him to celebrate his 11th goal of the campaign so far.

The Stags halved the deficit after 25 minutes as Reed – from Penistone in Barnsley – scored from the penalty spot after Cleary was adjudged to have handled the ball in the box.

McLaughlin managed to bundle the ball into the net to equalise for the away side in the 58th minute after a huge scramble in the Barnsley box.

And Lewis delivered a late Christmas gift for the travelling Stags with seven minutes to go as he fired past Murphy Cooper to give his side the win.

Barnsley have now conceded six goals in their last two games, both against sides who were in the relegation zone.

Head coach Conor Hourihane said: “I thought we started the game really bright and scored a couple of really good goals.

“We didn’t quite get to grips in the second half, we didn’t create loads if I’m being honest. But ultimately, I was really disappointed.

“Everything that is going against us is more self-inflicted rather than teams carving us open or missing a press or they’re playing through us.

“We’ve got to have a little bit of a think about the way we’re going to approach things moving forward.”