Having already been promoted, Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough claimed he couldn’t be disappointed after missing out on runners-up spot on the final day of the season after a 1-1 draw against Barrow.
Wrexham’s home win over Stockport County saw them leapfrog over the Stags at the end. Clough stated, “There is a tinge of disappointment, but when you look over the last 46 games, we can’t have any disappointment at all.”
“We accomplished our goal and finished third by a few points, trailing only Stockport and Wrexham.” It has been fantastic.”
Stags took the lead through George Maris at Barrow, who required a win to reach the play-offs, but were pulled back by a Kian Spence equaliser.
“We still tried to win the game at Barrow, professionally you have to,” Clough went on to say.
“Barrow put everything at us in the second half, as you would expect given their urgency to win.
“But I was upset that we didn’t win in the final five minutes when they had so many people forward.
“We had five or six wonderful possibilities late in the game and were entitled to win it and finish second.
“We set out with one goal from the conclusion of last season, when we won over Colchester but missed out on the play-offs by one goal.
“We were correct when we stated that we only had one goal. Let’s get up this year, automatically if possible, and we’ll be done.
“And we predicted at the outset of the season how good League Two would be this season. You look at the quality of the teams that have been relegated, as well as teams like Barrow that have lost out on the playoffs. It’s a really powerful league.
“There will be a lot of big teams in League One next year, so to do it in that sort of company and do it in the manner we’ve done it is pleasing.”
The Stags were followed by another massive army of 980 fans, and Clough said: “We’ve tried to amuse and score goals at home and away, and it’s great to see the same faces among the supporters today when we walked over to them.
“They’ve travelled all over the country to support us this year, and I believe they’ve had a nice time, just like we have.
“It was nice not to have pressure on the last game, and I feel sorry for Barrow, being in that situation where you need that goal and it’s just not to be, so it’s great to have gotten it done last week with a few games to spare.”
“It was fantastic for supporters to be able to come here with no expectations and enjoy the final day.
“Imagine if we still needed a point in the last five or ten minutes. It would have been awful.
“So it was lovely to get it done early so supporters could come up and enjoy it today.”
He added: “The players have had a good week or two enjoying it, but I told them that we’ll enjoy it much more in the next couple of weeks when we sit down and look back and reflect a little bit. We’ll enjoy it much more in the coming months.
“We used last year’s disappointment as motivation for this year, and I’m sure Barrow will do the same next season.
“These last few games they’ve come up short, but they are one of the best sides we’ve played.”
Clough is now starting to plan his squad for next season.
“We’ve said all along we want to add six or seven players, something like that, to the squad,” he told reporters.
“It’s critical to keep the majority of the group intact to maintain the spirit and camaraderie that has grown over the last two or three seasons.
“So you keep that, but add six or seven actual players who can start and make an impact in League One.
“We’re not talking about 14 or 15 players with that enthusiasm this season; it’s been the entire group.
“The injured lads are here with us today, and some of them have contributed this season, such as Elliott Hewitt coming back and scoring the crucial equaliser at MK Dons.
“Even those that haven’t really played, they’ve made a good contribution because that’s the spirit that’s got us through at times this season.”
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