Murray delight as Mansfield win

Adam Murray was a happy man after seeing his Mansfield side grind out a scrappy 1-0 win over Stevenage.

With loanee keeper Lenny Pidgeley marking his debut with a clean sheet, half-time substitute Reggie Lambe's 52nd-minute volley proved enough to give the Stags their first win in six and inflict a third successive defeat on stuttering Boro. Boss Murray smiled: "That was a great result for us and we needed that. "It was one of those again when Ricky Ravenhill pulled up in the warm-up with his hamstring and you thought 'that's another black cat we've run over'. "But I couldn't ask for any more from the boys today. I thought their performance, effort, application and commitment for this football club was amazing and they have done themselves proud. "We set up for the game to be scrappy and it paid off. "There wasn't much football played but the pitch didn't allow it and we knew the game wouldn't allow it. You have to reinvent yourselves for certain games. "I went for three up front with Billy Kee trying to get bits off the other two. But we were lacking a bit of energy and probing behind. "I didn't want to change our shape too early and I knew Reggie Lambe would get in behind and cause their back four problems with runs from deep. "We always had a plan B and it paid off. That was a big win for us. "Nothing has changed. We are still in a relegation battle all the way. "Last weekend everyone hit the panic button as we had dropped below that dotted line. "In that dressing room it feels like we have won the World Cup right now. But in 24 hours they will all come back down to earth and on Monday we will continue our fight to stay in the league." Chances were few and far between on the dreadful surface, with Stevenage keeper Chris Day forced to save from a 30-yard Chris Clements free-kick on 36 minutes. Three minutes later Bruno Andrade wasted the visitors' best chance as he cut in from the right but pulled his low shot into the side-netting. Day saved from a Ryan Tafazolli header from a 45th minute corner as the sides went in all square. But, within seven minutes of the restart, Mansfield were ahead. Matt Rhead headed Lee Beevers' long cross from the right back across goal where interval sub Lambe was unmarked to guide a rising volley high into the net from six yards. Danny Johnson did send a snapshot into the home sidenetting soon after. But Mansfield were able to hold onto what they had with relative ease in the end. Stevenage boss Graham Westley said: "It was a fairly even game. We had the better of the chances in the first half, although Day made a good save for us. "In the second half they got the early goal and then it was backs to the wall for them and I threw everything at it to try to get an equaliser, but we were unable to find the answer. "They did enough to win in the end. Goals change games. It gave them something to defend a bit of impetus. They did well to hang on. "We looked like a side that had the number of debutants that we had. We didn't look sure of ourselves, we looked a little bit disorganised and like a side in pre-season. "The fluidity we were showing when we were fully fit a few weeks ago has disintegrated as the changes have been forced upon us. It is difficult for us at the moment as we haven't got the biggest squad."