David Flitcroft: Togetherness key to victory
Posted Sunday, August 05, 2018 by PA
Mansfield boss David Flitcroft praised the work done by his side in pre-season after they cruised to a comfortable 3-0- opening-day win over Newport.
Tyler Walker brought a fine save out of Joe Day on 12 minutes after he reacted well to CJ Hamilton’s blocked attempt.
And he got Stags on their way with a composed finish in the 12th minute after good work from Neal Bishop and Krystian Pearce.
Conrad Logan had to be at his best three minutes later to keep out Padraig Amond.
Otis Khan doubled the home side’s lead with a fine header on 56 minutes after a perfect pass from Walker.
And it was game over when Khan rattled home a brilliant long-range effort on 65 minutes.
Flitcroft said: “It was a very good start to the season. We are trying to grow a togetherness and spirit and we showed that today
“It was an outstanding performance, the new lads have settled in.
“We did our business early and that has given them to time to grow into it and see what it means to play for the club
“I said Otis Khan was an exciting player with the ability to score goals and he has shown that today, he hurts you and excites.
“There was a real togetherness in that performance. Conrad Logan was outstanding when we came under threat
“You get a result like this off a really strong pre-season. This was a really good team performance and it is nice to see the hard work coming off
“We kept going and going and a lot of the things we have worked on was evident today and I am delighted.”
Newport boss Michael Flynn admitted his side had not quite been good enough.
“This is a very hard place to come and Mansfield will be right up there this season,” he said.
“They had that bit of quality to unlock us and have invested heavily in the summer to get a team that can win this league.
“We played well in patches and we were in the game at the start of both halves but then our concentration has let us down and the goals have proved costly.
“We spoke at the break of keeping it tight and putting Mansfield under pressure as the half went on, but the second goal was the killer.
“Once that went in it became very difficult for us and there wasn’t really a way back into it.
“It is never nice to lose on the opening day of a season, but there are 45 more games to come.
“We have our aims for the season and there is no reason to panic or get too downhearted about this defeat.”
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