Evans not eyeing the play-off spots yet

MANSFIELD’S rise up the League Two table continued with a comfortable victory over a disappointing Barnet, but manager Steve Evans is refusing to think of the play-offs just yet.

The Stags are now only two points behind seventh-placed Portsmouth after they picked up their third league win on the spin, with their latest victory rarely looking in doubt after Ben Whiteman’s opener.

Barnet, who began the afternoon above their opponents, were strangely poor on their own patch and there was only one set of supporters left with cause for feeling optimistic at the final whistle.

Evans said: “I don’t think about it [the league position] to be honest, all I try and do is knock one down at a time and we know how tough it is.

“We can’t worry about what anyone else does.

“We just have to make sure that we’re getting enough points between now and the beginning of May that says that maybe we can break into that top seven.

“Every one of those players have been magnificent in respect of working hard.

“I said to them we had to be a bit braver in possession, and I think we did that in the second half.”

Whiteman came within a whisker of opening the scoring for Mansfield when his low shot across goal struck the inside of the post.

Jake Kean bravely beat John Akinde to the ball to head a long punt clear, before the keeper made a good save with his legs to deny Barnet’s Jamal Campbell-Ryce.

The Stags then took the lead on 36 minutes when Whiteman produced a clean finish from the edge of the area from Shaq Coulthirst’s lay-off.

The visitors were then awarded a penalty just before the hour mark when Ricardo Santos tripped Coulthirst, who calmly struck his effort down the middle to double his side’s advantage.

And Barnet joint-interim boss Henry Newman lamented another slow start.

He said: “We seem to be starting games much better away from home than we are at home, and it’s mine and Rossi Eames’ job to work out why that is and get the team on the front foot.

“We started the second half well, on the front foot, and we knew we were going to be little bit open, but we felt we need to put a marker down.

“We’re disappointed to concede the penalty, which put us into a lull for ten or 15 minutes, but the performance just wasn’t good enough.”