Mansfield Town's best display of the season proved far too much for a dismal Peterborough United

Two goals from Will Evans and one from Bailly Cargill in the opening 31 minutes sealed a comfortable three points for the Stags against a Posh side who delivered a dismal display.

The win moved Mansfield, who were promoted from League Two last season, into eighth and just three points off a play-off place. Posh dropped a spot to 17th , but remain five points clear of the drop zone.

“That was outstanding from the first minute to the last,” Clough told the Mansfield Chad. “And it was a bit special with it being Boxing Day. I hope all our fans had a reasonable day yesterday then they all came down here, which is a couple of hours away, and it was a brilliant Christmas present for everybody, especially on the back of four points from the previous two games.

"The first 30-40 minutes were probably our best this season. We talked about how we wanted to set up and press and it was absolutely spot on. Being greedy, we could have had another goal. Against such a good footballing side we had to get among them and unsettle them physically as well as football-wise. That was our aim – and we did it. We scored three very good goals and with a bit more luck could have sneaked another one.

“They gave us a problem for five or 10 minutes after half-time and they had a few situations. It was a much more even second half but we defended well when we needed to.”