Northampton 0 – 1 Mansfield

Stephen McLaughlin’s goal and a superb defensive performance saw Mansfield into the League Two play-off final with a 3-1 aggregate win over Northampton.

McLaughlin struck the only goal of the second leg, with Mansfield leading 2-1 from Saturday’s opening game at Field Mill, on the half-hour mark after a perfect square ball from the returning Elliott Hewitt.

The Stags’ goal owed a lot to referee Ben Toner’s decision to wave play on when an offside Stephen Quinn made to run for the ball in the build-up, only to pull away with his arms raised just before Hewitt took over.

In the end, that strike was just the icing on the cake for Nigel Clough’s side, who rode out heavy Northampton pressure with the hosts’ only shot on target coming in the opening minute.

They may have felt aggrieved that what appeared two clear red cards, a late lunge from Kieran Wallace and an elbow from Stephen Quinn went unpunished, but the Cobblers could have little argument that the quality of Mansfield’s performance saw them worthy winners to set up a Wembley date on May 28.

More to follow…

What’s next?

Mansfield will keep their play-off dream alive at Wembley on May 28, live on Sky Sports Football; kick-off 4pm.