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MANSFIELD boss Steve Evans admitted that he ‘lost it’ during his half-time team talk before his side came from behind to claim a huge three points at Wycombe.
The hosts completely dominated the first half but couldn’t add to Adebayo Akinfenwa’s early header, despite a plethora of chances.
Alfie Potter and Lee Angol completed an impressive second-half Stags comeback – but not before a fiery outburst at the interval.
“I probably lost it a little bit at half-time,” said Evans.
“This group of players hasn’t seen that often and they don’t deserve to see it because they work so hard.
“I probably demonstrated quite loudly and quite passionately what you have to do to win football matches.
“I would like to think that contributed but what sparks it is the heart of the players.
“They showed a desire to win in the second half. We thoroughly deserved to win it over the 90 minutes.”
Wycombe got off to the perfect start as Akinfenwa headed in from Dominic Gape’s cross.
‘The Beast’ nearly had his and the Chairboys’ second almost instantly but his header deflected just wide of the post.
Akinfenwa was again then inches away from a second goal just before half-time as his shot struck the upright before nathan Tyson’s follow-up was impressively parried over by Bobby Olejnik.
Having weathered a storm at the end of the previous half, Mansfield equalised just seven minutes into the second as Potter side-footed past Scott Brown.
Angol should have turned the game on its head moments later but Brown pulled off a brilliant stop to keep the game level.
He was then lucky to stay on the pitch after appearing to hit out at Dan Scarr, who questionably also avoided punishment for his reaction.
Inevitably, at least for the home crowd, Angol popped up with the winning goal with eight minutes remaining as his sublime flick from Potter’s cross found the bottom corner.
Wycombe appeared to have a strong claim for a penalty in stoppage time but Chairboys boss Gareth Ainsworth said that their failure to finish chances was the reason why they fell to defeat. “I’m pretty aggrieved with a couple of decisions but I’m also aware of the fact that we should hit the target more in the first half,” said Ainsworth. “We dominated the first half. The way we started the game was fantastic. “If we put the game out of sight, then it doesn’t matter about the sending off decision, it doesn’t matter about the penalty decision. “Maybe a draw would’ve been a fairer result but we take it on the chin.”