‘Enough to win comfortably…’ – Nigel Clough gives verdict as Sheffield Wednesday snatch victory at Mansfield Town

Mansfield put up a good fight against a relatively strong Owls side at the One Call Stadium on Tuesday evening, and looked to have earned themselves a draw after former Sheffield United man, Stephen Quinn, had cancelled out Lewis Wing’s opener – only for Florian Kamberi to bag a late winner in stoppage time.

Clough, who has seen his side go through a difficult period of late, did say that he was pleased with how his young side performed, even though the result meant that their Papa John’s Trophy campaign was all but over.

Speaking to The Stags’ official website after the game, Clough said, “It was certainly an encouraging performance by a predominantly young side… It was a very good game, but we’re bitterly disappointed to lose in stoppage time. I didn’t think we deserved to.

“I think the young players did well. But we’re not making the most of our chances – we had three great situations to go and get a goal [in the first-half] and didn’t get one.

“I thought the way we started the second-half, [we were] on the front foot and penned them in. We wanted a little more enthusiasm and to be a little sharper [in the second-half].

“I thought we scored a very, very good team goal. We got the ball on the edge of the box and there were a couple of little touches in the penalty area. It was a nice lay-off from Tyrese and Quinny smashed it into the top corner.

“Then when you’re within 60 or 70 seconds of getting a 1-1 and going to penalties, you have to do more then to win the ball on the edge of the box or stop the cross.

“We only had a minute to go and we still had one or two situations ourselves after that. But it was that sort of game. We had enough chances to win it comfortably tonight.”

Wednesday’s next game in the PJT is against Harrogate Town on November 9th at Hillsborough as they look to make it three wins from three in the competition.

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