MANSFIELD TOWN boss Nigel Clough believes his team’s performance did not get what it merited.

The Stags suffered a 1-0 defeat against Wrexham at The Racecourse in Saturday's top of the table clash in League One.

Lee Gregory had two good chances in the opening period with Clough also believing his striker was fouled for a potential penalty before Ryan Barnett’s excellent sixth minute winner.

“The general standard of our play and performance was excellent,” said Clough, who saw his side squander chances in the second half as well with Wrexham also creating opportunities.

“We hit the bar twice, got into some great positions and could easily have had not just had a draw but won the game.

“Their lad hit one into the bottom corner from 20-25 yards, but we couldn’t find that bit of quality which happens at times.

“However, in how we approached the game against a team third in the league, there were no problems at all. I thought we were magnificent.

“I was disappointed with the goal but more than the goal I was very disappointed with the referee’s (Simon Mather) performance.

“We should have had a penalty after a few minutes and there were a lot of decisions I was incredibly disappointed with.

“We created numerous opportunities and were an inch from getting equaliser with Lee Gregory hitting the underside of the bar.”