Mansfield ‘want points not plaudits’ as unbeaten run ends against Peterborough

Mansfield boss Nigel Clough was furious as his side’s nine-match unbeaten run was ended following a host of missed chances in the 2-1 home defeat by Peterborough.

Stags had 27 shots at goal and 19 corners, but were punished for not taking their chances.

Jimmy-Jay Morgan and Harry Leonard did take their opportunities to earn Posh victory, despite a late goal from Stags debutant George Abbot setting up an exciting finale.

Mansfield were applauded off by home fans but Clough said: “We want points, not plaudits.

“You could argue tonight was the best performance of the 10 games, but it means absolutely nothing to me when you don’t win the game.

“I would rather take a 0-0 and have the moans and the grumbles and have another point on the board and another clean sheet.

“It is pointless playing as well as that and not getting anything from the game – what a waste of a performance.

“We should have been two or three ahead in the first half, but we weren’t because of the wastefulness of the players out there and we should have scored five or six tonight. It is beyond frustrating.

“We are only seven points off relegation and I am only interested in earning points to stay in the league, nothing else.

“The two goals we gave away were bordering on criminal tonight.”

Baily Cargill, Regan Hendry, Luke Bolton, Victor Adeboyejo, Frazer Blake-Tracy and Jon Russell all wasted good first-half chances.

Adeboyejo and Nathan-Moriah Welsh came close after the restart and Louis Reed had a shot deflect just wide.

From that corner, Posh broke to go ahead against the run of play as Cian Hayes set up Morgan.

And it was 2-0 after Blake-Tracy gifted the ball to Brandon Khela on the edge of his own box and he cued up Harry Leonard to drill home.

Six minutes from time, debutant Abbot pulled one back but in added time impressive Peterborough goalkeeper Alex Bass blocked Deji Oshilaja’s close-range finish to deny Stags an equaliser.

Posh boss Luke Williams said: “I thought the opposition were brilliant tonight and, as awful as it was for us, I enjoyed watching them.

“They played like a very mature side, very exciting with so many attacking options.

“To stand up to that and for the players to then have the composure when their moments came to score a couple of goals was brilliant.

“We scored a lot of goals on Saturday but tonight I got to see them with the boot on the other foot and they were happy to soak up a lot of pressure and, to a man, put their bodies on the line.

“I was pleased to see that as, if a team is to be successful, it has to have depth of character and strength in bad moments.”