Delighted Mansfield boss Nigel Clough saluted an “outstanding” effort from his players after they won 2-0 at promotion rivals Stockport.
George Maris and Davis Keillor-Dunn bagged second-half goals which moved the second-placed Stags to within just two points of leaders Stockport.
“It’s a perfect start to the new year for us,” beamed Clough, whose side have still lost just once in the league this season.
“I felt we fully deserved to win. From start to finish I felt we were on top. It really was an outstanding performance away from home.
“I felt we needed a few fresh legs in there after the draw the other day, and changing the front four really worked I thought.
“We needed that bit of extra energy and that’s worked for us today.
“We should have scored after 20 seconds, but there was so much more from my team in the second half.
“It was a great header from George to get us in front, and that really gave us a big lift at a big time.
“We knew we wouldn’t have been able to let a team like Stockport settle, especially here, and our game-plan regarding that worked brilliantly.
“The season is far from over of course, but this is a huge result for us.”
It proved to be a largely uninspiring opening half at a packed Edgeley Park, not helped by three significant injuries between the two sides.
Mansfield came closest to a breakthrough when early sub Louis Reed’s low strike was brilliantly palmed onto the post by County keeper Ben Hinchliffe.
The Stags made the breakthrough just after the restart when Maris headed home Ollie Clarke’s precise cross.
Substitute Keillor-Dunn then wrapped up a big win for the Stags in the 102nd minute.
Stockport boss Dave Challinor was clearly concerned for the welfare of defender Kyle Knoyle, who was rushed to hospital following a sickening clash of heads with team-mate Ibou Touray in between the two goals.
Challinor said: “Kyle’s gone off to hospital.
“Obviously all of our thoughts are with him at this moment, but I’ve been banging the drum for a long time about our players talking.
“Now we’ve lost another player after two of our players have smashed into one another. That’s a horrific injury which has come about as a result of players not talking.”
On the defeat, Challinor added: “It looked to me like two teams who didn’t want to lose.
“Maybe we were playing it a bit too safe due to that, and in the end the game is decided by mistakes – that’s how it proved to me.
“It was just the top two teams playing each other with three points at stake as far as I’m concerned. Maybe too many players are getting too carried away – too many people are going into their shells.
“We’re not learning enough, but that could also be down to me not learning enough about the players too.”
