Completely Carl

Derek Adams men recorded a 3-0 win in front of 7,494 fans against the in-form Stags, in a game dominated by the home side. Gregg Wylde's opener, followed by a Ryan brunt brace made for a comfortable afternoon for the Pilgrims. 

McHugh, who had another excellent game at the base of the Pilgrims' midfield, certainly enjoyed the experience of converting good play into goals. 

“It was probably the most complete performance we’ve had over the 90 minutes," said Carl. "We controlled the game for a lot of it.

"We played really good football as well so it was a really enjoyable game to be involved in.”

“We knew when you looked at their position prior to the game that it was really important we got the three points and try and make a bit of a statement in doing so. I think with our performance we did that.

“We’ve proved this year that we always want to try and play our football. Other teams may come and want to try and stifle us and make it difficult for us. We will have that between now and the end of the season and we’re going to have to deal with it as well but I thought on Saturday we did that.

“We did really well and even when we got the first goal we pushed on. When you look at the chances, we didn’t convert like we should have. It probably should have been a bit more convincing as well."

Prior to the game, Adams made some tough decisions, leaving out the likes of Jake Jervis and Reuben Reid, but the 3-0 scoreline went some way to vindicating the decisions. 

“It’s great when you look at the bench," said Carl. "We had Jake (Jervis) on the bench who, is our top goal scorer. We had Kelv (Mellor) too and that just shows you. We’ve got Josh (Simpson) to come back into the squad hopefully soon and that just shows you how strong a squad we have got now for the run in and it’s massive.  

“We’ve been consistently up there in the top three and that’s the difference to last season. Towards the latter part of last season we knew we were just trying to get in the play-offs but we’ve got a real aim of going up automatically [this season].

“Last season we struggled on the road. Our away form, touch wood, has been good this season so hopefully that continues.

“It would mean a lot if we could get promotion, it would cap off a great two years for me personally.”