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Mansfield boss Nigel Clough expressed pride in his team after they equalled a club record of 10 successive home league wins by beating Exeter 2-1.

It was their 14th game without defeat and lifted them to third in the table.

The run is all the more remarkable given that Mansfield were winless in 14 games in the first half of the season.

"It 's just another little milestone along the way and shows the incredible run we are on at the moment," Clough told ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Nottingham.

He described the record as "pretty special" and continued: "I thought we would need a clean sheet to win the game because Exeter are so solid, it's difficult to create lots of chances against them, but we got that all important second goal.

"We said the three games, Exeter, Tranmere and Port Vale, we'd know a bit more and we start that run with a great three points, and it was as hard a three points as we've earned this season."

Farrend Rawson and Matty Longstaff scored for Mansfield before Matt Jay's last-minute consolation in reply.

It was Rawson's first goal for Mansfield since joining them from Forest Green in the summer of 2020 and Clough said he was a "highly unlikely" scorer.

"I don't know what odds he was at the start of the night to get a goal - it was a bit strange, it seemed like almost slow motion the way it dropped to him a yard out and he tucked it away.

"At this time of the season, you'll take anybody scoring at any time and often it is the most unlikely ones."