“Embarrassed” assistant manager Andy Garner admitted Mansfield “looked like a non-league club” and let their fans down in defeat at Exeter.
After Demetri Mitchell had put the Grecians in front inside eight minutes, Angus MacDonald headed his first goal for the club three minutes into the second half as Mansfield failed to register a shot on target.
The 2-0 loss stretched the Stags’ winless run to 14 matches and they have gone from being play-off challengers to the edge of the relegation dogfight, sitting eight points above the drop zone.
Garner, Nigel Clough’s assistant, sympathised with the 500 fans who made the long midweek trip to Devon and said: “It was an absolutely dreadful night. I have been at this club for three-and-a-half years, whatever it’s been, and that was absolutely disgraceful.
“I thought the first 15 minutes were amateurish and we looked like a non-league club – and that’s with no disrespect to non-league clubs. We were nowhere near it and I can’t really put my finger on why.
“We’ve had three good draws and we thought we’d stick with the formation, stick with what we’ve got because we’ve been doing alright, but then we come and do this and I am embarrassed. I am quite emotional as well, but I am embarrassed for the fans tonight.
“I was embarrassed to go and clap them, but you have to clap them – there were 500 here tonight, which is unbelievable, and they are going home and we have let them down. We haven’t won since January, so there you go.”
Exeter manager Gary Caldwell praised his side for their defensive solidity.
“I wouldn’t say it was comfortable, it is never comfortable – they put us under a lot of pressure and had a lot of possession in the second half and we found it difficult to win the ball high off of them,” Caldwell said.
“That being said, once we got through the initial press, I thought our recovery and our defensive work was superb. We defended the box extremely well again and limited them to zero shots on target.
“When you do that against a team with a prolific goal threat in someone like Jordan Rhodes and Will Evans, who has been on fire for the last season and a half, then you have to be delighted with the defensive display. It was a brilliant foundation to allow us to go and win football matches.
“We have changed slightly how we are playing and play in space and we felt the two 10s in Pat (Jones) and Demi with that speed and threat, whether it be on the counter-attack or a more direct ball forwards, would cause them problems and it certainly did in that first half.
“We had other moments where we could have scored as well so, overall, I am really happy.”
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