Mark Jackson gave his thoughts to LUTV after seeing his side put in a battling display on Monday evening, overcoming Mansfield Town.

The Premier League Cup encounter saw the Whites claim their first three points in the group stage, courtesy of goals from Sean McGurk and Max Dean, despite a late fightback from the visitors.

Speaking after the game, Jackson felt his side deserved the win.

He said: “We’re really, really pleased with the result.

“There’s been times recently where we have been disappointed with the result, but we are happy with it tonight and I have said that to the lads in there.

“They deserved that, and not only tonight, but in other games as well where we have played well and probably not deserved to lose.

“I am pleased for them to have the victory. They haven’t felt it for a bit, so it is nice to feel that again.

“Sometimes the performance might not have been exactly how we wanted it, but they dug in and showed a togetherness and desire to see the game through to the end so I am pleased with them for that.

“Even with conceding the goal late on, the boys stuck together, and you can see signs of them learning how to win games which is important.”

With a number of the usual Under-23s squad away on international duty, the competition once again allowed an opportunity for younger players within the academy to step up to the team.

“We always planned on doing this,” Jackson explained.

“We’ve got a lot of players away on international duty and we left some players out as well who could have been available tonight.

“We decided to stick to the principles of what we wanted to do in this competition at the start of the season, which was to blood a few of the youngsters.

“We did that tonight and I felt they showed some good things, so hopefully that gives them confidence.”