Mansfield Town manager David Flitcroft was pleased to see his team share the goals around to relieve some of the pressure on Tyler Walker.
Town continued their quest for automatic promotion on Good Friday, thumping Morecambe 4-0 at Field Mill, a result which kept them second in League Two with just three games remaining.
The on-loan Nottingham Forest frontman has been in blistering form for the Stags this season, notching up 24 goals to fire Mansfield to the verge of League One.
And boss Flitcroft was pleased to see other players step-up and score goals, and not have to rely on Walker, as they have so often done this term.
“We have relied heavily on Ty [Walker],” he said.
“We’ve had Danny Rose and Craig Davies injured for long stages of the season.
“Tyler has carried it at times. CJ (Hamilton) has backed him up all season, and (Jacob) Mells, coming from midfield, he showed calmness and composure.”
Goals from Jacob Melis, Krystian Pearce, CJ Hamilton and Mal Benning sealed a comprehensive victory, which could have been heavier but for a serious of saves from ex-Forest stopper Barry Roche.
“Mal Benning kept driving in the second-half and it’s a great finish for his, and KP (Krystian Pearce) as well.
“It’s good to share the load. Once it got to three and four, it was important to take Tyler off. I didn’t want to take any chances with him, Bish (Neal Bishop) or Granty (Jorge Grant).”
“From a goal difference point of view, it [win] is important. You have that to think about.”
Mansfield’s on-loan Forest trio of Walker , Grant and Jordan Smith will come up against one of their Reds colleagues on Monday, in the form of Oldham defender Alex Iacovitti.
And in front of the television cameras, Flitcroft is acutely aware of the importance of the game, with just three to go and a two-point cushion to Bury outside the top three.
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“We’ve got a Sky game (live on Sky Sports) and the Oldham players will raise their potential and raise their game on Monday,” he said.
“We’ve got a really tough fixture against Stevenage, too [next Saturday]. There’s still so much left to play for, and there are quite a few teams still looking to get into the play-offs.
“You see how much it meant to the lads today. It was phenomenal. I told them to not go searching for the second goal, and to just be patient.”
