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Sky Bet League Two | Saturday 27th February 2021 – One Call Stadium [Behind Closed Doors]  Following a run of three consecutive defeats, a grey cloud was starting to form over Mansfield Town, however as glorious sunshine began to break through over the areas skyline – the Stags players were determined to go off-script against promotion chasing Morecambe, ending their poor form with a 1-0 victory thanks to Jordan Bowery’s first half strike.
The Stags showed vast improvement from Tuesday’s night’s lacklustre showing at Harrogate with the sunlight almost acting as solar power, as Clough’s men put in more energy to prevent Morecambe from having the opportunity to hurt us – exactly the type of performance I want to see from home games, telling opposition that if you want to take anything home from Mansfield, you’ll have to dam well work for it. Nigel Clough made three changes, one enforced, from Tuesday’s game – however new defender Jake Wright, signed on a short term deal following a 6-8 week trial, only made the bench – despite Clough clearly being unhappy with Rawson and Sweeney in conceding Tuesday’s criminal goal. He did tweak the defence with Benning in at left back and Gordon on the opposite side – the former was impressive for me and really gave us more of an assured presence both defending and going forward, also brining the best out of Bowery, when those two are paired down the left, Mansfield in my opinion are far more effective. Adding Stephen Quinn into the mix there as well really adds flavour, his part in setting up the goal was excellent – the more games he plays, the more he’s settling – I can’t wait for Lapslie to be fit again to see them both get a run of games alongside each other. The main star for me though again was the “youngster” Jason Law was absolutely tremendous on the right hand side of the front three. The 21 year old has had to wait patiently for his opportunity since arriving in 2015 – Clough, the sixth manager Law has served, has certainly seen something in him and is certainly getting the return to his faith. Law was heavily involved yesterday and looked lively, having four or five opportunities in the first half alone to either open the scoring himself or provide an assist, his set play deliveries were on the money too – the goal coming from the second phase of play from Laws’ corner. His hunger and desire to keep his shirt is refreshing and long may that continue. Whilst yesterday’s victory wasn’t the prettiest – it did the basics in keeping a clean sheet and really stopping Morecambe from getting going, that’s pleasing enough for me – we have eight games next month and if that can be the core basis of our play, I think we’ll have a steady run to first and foremost, secure survival. A tough game Tuesday night in Bradford, however as Andy Cook can’t play – that will disrupt their front line a little and give us a bit of an edge, but again let’s do the same again, prevent them from having opportunities and see what happens. Three points and a clean sheet – job done, onto the next one. Click HERE to read the clubs official match report. STAGS: Aidan Stone | Kellan Gordon, Farrend Rawson, Ryan Sweeney, Mal Benning | George Maris, Ollie Clarke ©, Stephen Quinn | Jason Law (Harry Charsley 90+2), Jamie Reid, Jordan Bowery Unused Subs: Marek Stech, Corey O’Keeffe, James Perch, James Clarke, Jake Wright, Tyrese Sinclair
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Sky Bet League Two | Tuesday 23rd February 2021 – Whetherby Road [Behind Closed Doors]  There are moments in life where you have to just take what’s coming to you – like when you were young and called the teacher ‘Mum’ and got laughed at, or when you didn’t realise you had put your top on inside out and couldn’t quite figure out why people were sniggering. Or, like when you’re Mansfield Town, defend woefully and the manager makes no excuses for you: take it in, suck it up and for goodness sake, put it right.
Mansfield Town suffered a third consecutive defeat thanks largely to a moment of weak defending just nine seconds into the second half – but also thanks to a combined display which lacked flare, energy, leadership, desire or any form of idea. The truth is, I could sit here and rant about how poor we are – weigh up the pros and cons, but what’s the point? It can’t change what happened last night, or what’s happened to the Stags since our mother nature enforced break – the only thing that can, is honesty and hard work. We’ve had some part of the former through Nigel Clough’s post-match reaction which protected nobody and refreshingly told it how it was – what comes next is down to the players, who need to get back on the training ground, step things up a bit and when Saturday comes – put things right. Positivity breeds positive results, and likewise negativity breeds negative results – we’ve had the positive spell and pulled away from danger, but one or two more negative displays and results and we’re right back in that black hole. I full believe that Clough and his staff will ensure the negative patch will stop quicker than his predecessor, and I do believe we have enough in the squad to rise to that – especially the younger players who have that desire and ambition which we’ve been lacking. Morecambe of course will be tough, they’re having an excellent season – but we are capable of matching that as we’ve shown, let’s find the energy and desire to actually fight and perform for the shirt – get through to the end of the season safe, and start again. Forget it, accept it for what it is and move on! As I always say, fall down seven times, stand up eight. Click HERE to read the clubs official match report. STAGS: Aidan Stone | James Perch, Farrend Rawson, Ryan Sweeney, Stephen McLaughlin (Mal Benning HT) |Jason Law (Stephen Quinn 73) George Maris (Tyrese Sinclair 85), Ollie Clarke © | Harry Charsley (Kellan Gordon 56), Jamie Reid, Jordan Bowery (Oli Sarkic 89) Unused Subs: Marek Stech, Aaron O’Driscoll, Oli Sarkic Sky Bet League Two | Saturday 20th February 2021 – One Call Stadium [Behind Closed Doors]  Losing a game is never easy to take, but at full time yesterday all I had was the feeling of ‘Meh, that was to be expected’ – safe in the knowledge that nothing was gained nor lost in the crazy journey that is this season.
There’s no denying that the enforced break has totally rocked our momentum, but whilst the good run of form was nice – a bump in the road was always around the corner, what’s important is knowing this time, we have a manager and coaching team fully capable of taking firm hold of the wheel and not allowing the damage to go beyond bruised egos. Nigel Clough’s job was too stabilise us this season – I think a lot of people were guilty of looking at the form guide as the league table during the January window and thinking promotion was on the cards, a late play-off surge isn’t out of the question naturally – but for me, a top half finish would be a more realistic target having developed some of our younger players to see what they can add to next seasons squad, a squad which will no doubt be asking the top seven question. Over the last week questions have been asked about the decision to allow Cook and Maynard to leave on loan, asked in bold yesterday as Cook scored twice for Bradford as we struggled to get a shot on target. The duo were arguably our two biggest earners who weren’t quite doing what was required, both of which asked to leave, so it was a no brainer to get them out, free up some funds, POTENTIALLY try and get one or two in during the January window – and most importantly, in a season where income is rare and where we’ve had to pay off a management team, keep the purse strings tight. With Football coming to an abrupt end for clubs below the conference national, opportunities to send young players out on loan are pretty much not there – so we have a real chance to allow young, hungry players the opportunity to thrive from the bench, something we saw yesterday with Jason Law and Tyrese Sinclair, something I want to see more of over the coming weeks. Performance wise as a team yesterday the difference in league standing showed – Cambridge showed why their front line is so effective, and we showed our frailties and naivety, particularly with the first and second goals. In my opinion, Rawson for the first goal doesn’t need to try and close down the cross when Harry Charsley is there, him cutting across confuses Charsley and allows time for the cross to come in – plus it takes a player from the middle, he should just track back into the middle. The second goal comes from a good high press from Cambridge, we need to clear our lines quicker and be a much tougher side in those areas, far too many crosses are put in and we’re being punished. However there’s no room for the blame game, win, lose and draw as a team – let’s go again, freshen things up and bring home all three points from Harrogate on Tuesday… oh, and if we could just put ONE decent set play in, that’d be great. Click HERE to read the clubs official match report. STAGS: Aidan Stone | James Perch, Farrend Rawson, Ryan Sweeney, Stephen McLaughlin |Stephen Quinn (Jason Law 62) George Maris, Ollie Clarke © | Harry Charsley (Tyrese Sinclair 73), Jamie Reid, Jordan Bowery (Oli Sarkic 89) Unused Subs: Marek Stech, Corey O’Keeffe, Aaron O’Driscoll, Mal Benning Sky Bet League Two | Wednesday 17th February 2021 – One Call Stadium [Behind Closed Doors]  When you’re on an unbeaten run – you have to be prepared for it to come to an end eventually, the frustration however comes not in seeing said run end, but in the manner it was ended, as Mansfield Town crumbled, throwing away a solid two-goal lead with ten minutes to go.
Throwing the game away to draw would have been bad enough – but to ship three goals and lose is completely unacceptable, and I’m sure Nigel Clough will be asking questions of his players and looking to right the wrongs on Saturday against league leaders Cambridge. Mansfield were in control of the second half, playing some really good football which led to a commanding two goal lead – thanks to skipper Ollie Clarkes venomous shot, and a cool finish from Jamie Reid. Bolton certainly had lady luck on their side to salvage their way back to two-two, Aidan Stone was beaten by a freak goal which was a miss-hit cross from the left hand side before substitute Sir Mal turned the ball into his own net, with Mansfield again failing to deal with the second phase of play from a set piece. The winner was a good strike to be fair but again questions need to be asked of the Stags back line which was all over the place – if bodies, IE Kellan Gordon, are back fit for Saturday, it may be time to freshen things up – shipping six goals in three games isn’t good enough. Naturally there was a blow up on social media last night RE blowing the play-offs etc – from day one Clough walked in with Bobbie Dog trotting at his heels, the play-offs were never the objective – safety was. Call me pessimistic or whatever, but that is STILL the case – we’ve made great strides and given ourselves hope of a late play-off surge which is STILL possible – but ultimately its safety first and anything else is a bonus. There’s no denying that with key hitters such as George Lapslie, Kellan Gordon and Oli Sarkic missing through injury we’re a little thin on the ground – maybe it was frustration last night with the talk about Maynard and Cook being let go, but there are reasons behind those exits – we have a young squad and a great opportunity to develop those players but a bit of patience and understanding. Humble in victory, gracious in defeat – so let’s learn and go again Saturday! Click HERE to read the clubs official match report. STAGS: Aidan Stone | James Perch, Farrend Rawson, Ryan Sweeney, Stephen McLaughlin |Stephen Quinn (Mal Benning 83) George Maris, Ollie Clarke © | Harry Charsley, Jamie Reid, Jordan Bowery Unused Subs: Marek Stech, Corey O’Keeffe, Aaron O’Driscoll, James Clarke, Tyrese Sinclair, Jason Law Sky Bet League Two | Sunday 14th February 2021 – JobServe Community Stadium [Behind Closed Doors]  After battling the elements to get a game on over the last few weeks, Mansfield Town and Colchester United made the sensible decision to push back Saturday’s scheduled game to Sunday to try and beat the freeze – sense not the only thing they shared on valentine’s day… steady on, I’m talking about the points!
The point extends Mansfield’s excellent unbeaten run in Sky Bet League Two but there is an element of frustration in this one, as Nigel Clough’s side were 2-1 up with a minute to go – poor defending allowed Frank Nouble to dance his way through and fire home an equaliser. Clough will have been disappointed with his sides defending for Colchester’s first goal too, with Mansfield failing to respond to the second phase of play from a corner – allowing Herriott to drill home and cancel out the excellent work done at the other end by his team mate Smith, who’d bundled past his own keeper inside the opening five minutes to put the Stags ahead. Frustrating as conceding the two goals was, the Stags will have been disappointed to not adapt to a very heavy, and in parts frozen, pitch – finding it difficult to play the short, sharp and intricate passing game in the midfield which has often spurned positive results under Clough thus far. It was naturally the same for both teams and I think you have to liken it to running a marathon up the steepest hill imaginable with additional weights strapped to your legs. Bursts of adrenaline and focus will carry you for a while, but ultimately you’ll feel those contributing factors and find the task far tougher. The key thing was staying unbeaten and we did that well, like Clough said a week or so ago – it’s not about those first couple of games back after a prolonged break – it’s about the two or three after, so let’s up the tempo a little and make the One Call Stadium a very hard place for Bolton to come on Wednesday night [5pm kick off] and give their manager even more to moan about! Clough will be slightly worried about being a little thin squad wise with new loan signing Oli Sarkic missing out with a tight problem and Kellan Gordon also missing out with a knee issue – let’s hope both are minor niggles with lots more games to come thick and fast. Click HERE to read the clubs official match report. STAGS: Aidan Stone | James Perch, Farrend Rawson, Ryan Sweeney, Stephen McLaughlin |Stephen Quinn (Mal Benning 80) George Maris, Ollie Clarke © | Harry Charsley, Jamie Reid, Jordan Bowery Unused Subs: Marek Stech, Corey O’Keeffe, Aaron O’Driscoll, James Clarke, Tyrese Sinclair, Jason Law Sky Bet League Two | Tuesday 9th February 2021 – Banks Stadium [Behind Closed Doors]  After a prolonged break thanks to mother nature, Mansfield Town couldn’t extend their winning streak to six – taking just a point from Walsall, extending the unbeaten league run to seven games on an evening where defrosting was very much the order of proceedings.
Played in sub-zero temperatures the match nearly didn’t go ahead and had to be brought forwards by fifteen minutes to try and prevent the pitch from freezing as the evening went on – both managers and the referee also agreed to play no extra time to prevent possible injuries – with probably only three that would have been added, it was certainly the right call with the game frozen at 1-1 and going nowhere. Neither side had played since the 23rd January and within the opening seconds, the Stags still hadn’t thawed out and very nearly went behind – eventually going a goal down from a set play on 23 minutes, if I had to pick one negative from the night as a whole, it would be that our work at set play, at both ends, was poor and sluggish. Boss Nigel Clough earned more plaudits after the game admitting he shouldn’t have started George Lapslie who’d been struggling with a hamstring issue – Clough went against the advice of assistant Gary Crosby who was proved right after 13 minutes, when the now permanent Stags midfielder pulled up and was replaced by skipper Clarke. Lapslie will now face an estimated four week lay-off, so given our current postponement rate, will miss one game! Clarke was the shining light of the night and was tremendous in the middle making several key interventions and mouth watering passes – his performance topped off with an excellent finish off balance after fantastic build up play from Bowery and Jamie Reid on the half hour to draw the Stags back on level terms. Bowery should have perhaps added what would have proved the winner with a venomous shot from Clarke’s beast of a pass, but he was denied by the keeper and to be honest, I’m not too fussed – we took a point from a similar side to us and remain firmly in the mid-table standings with a ten-point gap between ourselves and now second bottom Southend, a nine-point gap between ourselves and 7th placed Exeter and, thanks to mother nature, several games in hand over pretty much everyone! The first game back after such a break (17 days?) was always going to be tough to find our groove again, when you add in the sub-zero conditions I don’t think anyone can have any complaints – I’m just happy we actually got to play! We’ll now look to build momentum back up – playing Saturday-Tuesday for the next six or so weeks! Click HERE to read the clubs official match report. STAGS: Aidan Stone | Kellan Gordon, Farrend Rawson, Ryan Sweeney ©, Stephen McLaughlin |Stephen Quinn (Oli Sarkic 72) George Maris, George Lapslie (Ollie Clarke 13) | Harry Charsley, Jamie Reid, Jordan Bowery Unused Subs: Marek Stech, Mal Benning, James Perch, Tyrese Sinclair, Jason Law |
