MANSFIELD Town boss Nigel Clough admits his side were fortunate to claim a point after they struck late to draw 1-1 at Colchester United.

Davis Keillor-Dunn slammed home a 90th-minute equaliser for the Stags from close range, after the home defence had failed to deal with Aden Flint’s flick-on in the area from Callum Johnson’s cross.

It preserved Mansfield’s unbeaten run, after Joe Taylor had given Colchester a 30th-minute lead when he clinically finished from Arthur Read’s fine pass.

READ MORE: Colchester United player ratings after Mansfield Town draw

Clough said “I’m not sure how we got a point.

“I don’t think we deserved anything all day.

Gazette:

“I don’t think we did anything really that we’ve done in the first nine games.

“In the first half, we had an element of control in the game without really hurting them, every time we got into the final third.

“We mis-placed a pass, gave it away, we didn’t cross properly.

“The goal sort of summed it up; a young player making a mistake and giving the ball away.

READ MORE: Reaction from Colchester boss Ben Garner after Mansfield draw

“Once he’s mis-controlled it, you do everything you can not to concede a goal.

“We massively missed Stephen Quinn’s composure today.

“But we put Flinty (Aden Flint) up front and it gives you a different option, to go through him.

“I’m not sure too many people in a red shirt actually recognised that Flinty had gone up front!

Gazette:

“They didn’t play the ball towards him for about 15 minutes!

"He's quite a big lad you know, quite noticeable so when he goes to the other end of the pitch, you'd have thought that just the odd person might have noticed that and put it on his head.

"I don't know where it (the team performance) came from, whether it's two warm weeks on the spin and their brains are a bit frazzled with the September heat, I don't know.

"But there seemed to be a lot of poor, poor decision making out there today."