Mansfield Town captain Adam Murray says his third Blue Square Bet Premier promotion has left him feeling sick!
The Stags’ player-assistant manager lifted the championship trophy in front of a 6,394 Field Mill crowd after Matt Green’s 27th goal of the season gave them the win they needed against Wrexham.
Second-placed Kidderminster did all they could at their Aggborough home by hammering Stockport County 4-0 in a match suspended for over half-an-hour in the second half due to crowd trouble, with the visiting Hatters becoming the biggest club ever to be relegated to regional football.
But Murray, who has previously won promotion to League Two through play-offs with Carlisle and Oxford United, told The NLP: “This is the best without doubt. It’s the best thing I’ve ever done.
“I’ve put so much into this season and like a lot of the lads I’m emotionally and physically knackered.
“From the moment I woke up this morning I’ve felt sick, my stomach kept turning and at times I felt as I was going to cry on pitch. It means so much to me.”
Success under Paul Cox marks a fifth career promotion for Murray, who also went up to Division Two (now League One) in his first of three spells at Mansfield.
For ex-Torquay and Oxford hitman Green, who netted for the seventh successive game with his 40th-minute penalty after Louis Briscoe had been fouled by Glenn Little, it also completes a hat-trick of Conference promotions.
Green, 26, is out of contract this summer and boss Cox knows he will struggle to hold on to a man who has netted 57 times since joining in the summer of 2011.
“I’m not stupid, I know there’s been Championship clubs down here watching him and Greeny is a free agent in the summer,” said Cox.
“If he went to a Championship club I’d be the first one to ring him up and congratulate him because he’s a terrific lad, great to work with and you can’t stop somebody progressing.
“But I’m hoping we can sit down and the chairman can work something out with him to keep him at this club for a long, long time.”
*FOR FULL REPORT & REACTION TO MANSFIELD’S TITLE WIN SEE SUNDAY’S NLP
