English-born Ghanaian midfielder Hiram Boateng expressed his joy as Mansfield Town moved back into the Sky Bet League Two automatic promotion spots with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Forest Green.
Boateng, who provided the assist for Tom Nichols' goal, believes the Stags have laid down a marker with their performance.
The victory sees Mansfield sit in third place, two points above Saturday’s opponents MK Dons, with a game in hand. Boateng was particularly pleased with the team's clean sheet, stating that it's a crucial factor in picking up points.
Despite Forest Green's lowly position, Boateng acknowledged their fighting spirit, suggesting that the remaining games of the season will be equally challenging. He emphasized the importance of maintaining a cool, level-headed approach in the coming matches.
“I think we laid a marker down today and showed what we’re capable of again and what I’m probably most pleased with is the fact we kept a clean sheet because that’s obviously going to help you pick up points," he told iFollow Stags.
“After a result like that, although Forest Green are down near the bottom they really came and gave it a go and battled hard so It was never going to be an easy game. I don’t think any of the games from now till the end of the season will be. So now the spirit is going to be lifted and it’s about keeping cool, level headed and taking on the last few games as we did today.
“[It’s a] Massive win,” he added. “I think the message going into the game was that we needed to turn the result from the weekend [a 4-1 loss at home to Crawley] into something positive today, so [we are] delighted with the result.
“I think we knew we had to start fast. It was important after obviously conceding early in the last game we knew that we needed to get back to starting the game fast and playing with intent.
“The message from the manager was that it’s going to come down to desire today and I think the boys showed that in abundance,”