Mansfield 1 Pompey 1: Stags boss believes side more than matched Blues

The Stags responded to three consecutive 1-0 defeats to Newport County, Yeovil Town and Bristol Rovers by stopping the rot against Paul Cook’s stuttering League Two promotion-chasers.

A battling display saw the hosts claim a deserved share of the spoils after Ryan Tafazolli’s own goal just before half-time cancelled out Matt Green’s opener.

Mansfield had goalkeeper Scott Shearer to thank for saving Marc McNulty’s first-half penalty, though, after he was upended by former Blues loanee Daniel Alfei.

Regardless, a point was the least their efforts merited, with Murray delighted with the work-rate of his players.

‘It was a very tough game against a very, very good side, but I thought we more than matched them,’ he said.

‘At times they’re going to put you under pressure, they’ve got excellent players, but I thought the boys were superb.

‘The biggest thing for me was the performance.

‘I think when you’ve had the defeats that we’ve had – and they’ve been hard to take – you’ve got to stop that sequence and to do it against a team and a club like that, it takes extra effort.

‘The next step for us is consistency and when we get that, we’ll be a very good side – we showed that on Saturday.

‘For the boys to play with that belief they did, I take my hat off to them, because after three defeats, it’s tough to go into a game and say: “Oh, I’m confident now” – it doesn’t work like that.’

Murray also praised goalkeeper Shearer’s third penalty save of the season and admitted that there are a number of factors which help him make such saves.

He added: ‘One – Scott being an excellent goalkeeper. Two – him having an excellent coach in Brian Jensen and somebody who’s pushing him, and three, us having an excellent analysis team.’