Mansfield manager Nigel Clough praised his side’s never-say-die attitude after they rescued a point with a late Andy Cook strike in a pulsating 3-3 home draw with Crawley.

The Stags led 1-0 at the break but were rocked by three goals in an 11-minute Crawley purple patch – only to fight back and grab a point with substitute Cook’s deflected 93rd-minute goal.

“I thought was a brilliant performance with a slightly disappointing result,” said Clough.

“It was a great result in the end in that we’ve come back from 3-1 down with not long left but, over the course of the whole game, we thoroughly deserved to win it.

“Apart from the first 10 minutes of the second half the level of performance was absolutely brilliant today.

“We created enough chances to win about four games and I am not sure how we’ve only scored three goals.

“I am relieved to get a point as when you’re 3-1 down at home, or anywhere, it’s unlikely you’re going to get anything out of the game.

“So I was delighted with the resilience of the players and the fact we just kept going.”

Ryan Sweeney turned home a fourth-minute corner for Mansfield but they wasted a string of other chances with keeper Glenn Morris in fine form.

Interval sub Max Watters levelled after being put through on 49 minutes and five minutes later Tom Dallison lifted a loose ball goalwards and it dropped over Marek Stech.

Watters’ 12th goal of the season on 59 minutes was a superb dipping finish from Jake Hessenthaler’s through-ball and Crawley were in charge.

But Stags were not finished and George Lapslie volleyed home a Jamie Reid nod-down on 72 minutes before a big deflection helped Cook level at the death.

Crawley assistant head coach Lee Bradbury, in charge for the day, said: “First half we were nowhere near the standards we should be at and we were lucky to only be 1-0 down – it could have been 3-0.

“I told the players they needed to be better – and they were.

“Mansfield ran all over us first half, which was disappointing as they played Wednesday night which meant we’d had an extra 24 hours’ rest.

“It was all about the second-half reaction and I think we were unlucky at the end when they scored a deflected goal.

“Being 3-1 up like we were we should be seeing that out though, to be fair, their second goal was a good goal – a great finish with a volley into the top corner.

“But two minutes to go there’s a deflection and it looped in over the keeper.

“In hindsight a draw was probably a fair result, but it’s hard to take when you’re 3-2 up so near the end.”