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Northampton Town 1-2 Mansfield Town [Danny Rose (P), Willem Tomlinson] | Sky Bet League Two | Saturday 7th March 2020 | PTS Academy Stadium  *The views expressed in this article, are solely those of the writer and not those of their associated organisations*
When Graham Coughlan took charge of his first game as Stags boss back in December against Northampton at the One Call stadium, you could sense that given time to work he would lift us into a side that would go toe to toe with the top sides, a side that would show some resilience and battle – yesterday’s 2-1 victory in the reverse fixture over the Cobblers, certainly showed the lads have put the work in. There’s a massively long way to go, more than anything the excitement and joy of victory is building for next season rather than a positive end to this one, but you have to give the lads credit for standing up and fighting against a physical Northampton side. The fact they had ten men for the majority of the game to me is irrelevant because even with a man less, they caused us problems, throwing themselves about, pinching, punching, kicking and screaming to try and get something from the game which, like it or not, good successful sides do – if anything that little bit of ‘bullying’ is a characteristic which we lacked when we were in their shoes this time last season. Mansfield were strong but that came from the very back in Aidan Stone, who was absolutely excellent when called upon in the Stags goal – his flying save to tip around the top corner bound free-kick moments before our counter-attack-won penalty, was the turning point of the game for me and simply said “today, we will not crumble”. The young shot stopper is fully deserving of his run in the side at the moment and made a string of saves throughout the match, vocally marshalling his defence and making it a frustrating afternoon for Northampton – whose goal late on will be disappointing for Stone to not keep a clean sheet, but one in which the Stags need to do better in defending higher up – little things make a difference. Stevenage losing takes the gap to sixteen points, but there are still ten games to go for both – let’s kick on from this and keep battling, for the last few seasons’ we’ve had a very poor end, so let’s end strong and take that into the next campaign. Crewe up next will prove a technical challenge rather than a physical one, we have to be switched on and defend well – taking our chances when they come, because as yesterday proved, those chances make a difference when you take them. What a good feeling to get a win! Match Recap Defender Joe Riley returned to the starting line-up in place of Hayden White following the two-week gap between games in the sides only change. On the bench, 16-Year-Old goalkeeper Maison Campbell was given a call up, replacing Oljenik who picked up a knock in training, whilst young forward Tyrese Sinclair also was brought onto the bench. Click HERE to read the clubs official match report FULL TIME: Northampton Town 1-2 Mansfield Town | Attendance 5,666 (767) STAGS: [3-4-1-2] Aidan Stone | Ryan Sweeney, Krystian Pearce ©, Kelland Watts (Hayden White 87) | Joe Riley, Neal Bishop, Willem Tomlinson, CJ Hamilton | Harry Charsley | Danny Rose, Nicky Maynard (Craig Davies 82) Unused Substitutes: Maison Campbell, Mal Benning, Jack Evans, Tyrese Sinclair, Jimmy Knowles *The views expressed in this article, are solely those of the writer and not those of their associated organisations* |
