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Sky Bet League Two, Game 2 – Saturday 19th September 2020, Breyer Group Stadium [Behind Closed Doors]  After so many months of waiting for football to return, we all had a renewed hope that this new Mansfield Town would be free of the errors of the old Mansfield, alas there’s never a truer statement than “papering over the cracks – doesn’t actually get rid of the cracks”
It was all going so swimmingly for the Stags who, after a well contested first half, had worked hard to take a two goal lead at Leyton Orient with ten minutes to play. Someone forgot the golden rule – never swim in waters out of your depth, as the Stags players did the full Chris Tarrent routine – offering three points to the fans only to whip them away “We don’t want to give you that”! Concrete footed defending allowed the hosts back into the game late on, BUT the Stags’ new found confidence in keeping the ball theoretically should have seen Graham Coughlan’s men through…. WRONG! As someone had the bright idea to hold the ball up in the corner with a good five minutes, plus stoppages, to play! We won’t even mention Ollie Clarke’s late SHOT from practically the half way line to give possession away with a minute left, which led inadvertently to the hosts having one last chance… KEEP THE BALL MAN! Ah, I’m having nightmares of last season again. Usually I’d still be fuming on a Sunday morning after throwing away victory, but I’m a tad more mellow today. Perhaps it’s because I didn’t then spend X amount of hours in a car stewing over the result (cheers covid)? No, it’s because I saw how absolutely raging Coughlan was in his post-match interview! Those players were not instructed by the management (if we’re going on what the real GC said) to hold the ball in the corner at 2-1 with so long left, nor did he expect his skipper to give the ball away so cheaply with victory so close! With last season’s cohort, I’d expect a repeat of that because it was not a squad built by GC, this one however is – and I firmly believe the next time we hold the ball in the corner with so long left, GC will storm onto the pitch himself and two foot his own players as a wakeup call! OK, I’m being daft now I know – but you get the point. Taking the positives away, the Stags were in control of that match and kept a hungry Orient side pretty happy – they lifted their game in the second half and chased after seemingly lost causes, highlighted perfectly by Andy Cook in winning the penalty which Jordan Bowery put in the postage stamp top corner! Never in doubt?! We had some good build up play and looked a lot fitter again, there’s an energy about this team and I honestly think the lessons will be learned, mistakes will be corrected and those aforementioned cracks, properly repaired. We move on, we hurt, we learn, we look forward and WE DON’T HOLD THE BLOODY BALL UP IN THE CORNER FOR SEVEN MINUTES!! Watching the Stags never gets easier… but we wouldn’t have it any other way! Click HERE to read the clubs official match report. STAGS: Marek Stech | Rollin Menayese, Farrend Rawson, Ryan Sweeney | Corey O’Keeffe, Ollie Clarke © George Maris, Mal Benning | Harry Charsley | Andy Cook (Nicky Maynard 90), Jordan Bowery Unused Subs: Aidan Stone, Tyrese Sinclair, James Perch, Aaron O’Driscoll, Jamie Reid, Stephen McLaughlin
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Sky Bet League Two, Game 1 – Saturday 12th September 2020, The One Call Stadium [Behind Closed Doors]  After months of waiting and countless changes, Mansfield Town finally began their next chapter with a goalless draw with Tranmere Rovers.
The Stags put in a solid display and were very unlucky not to finish as winners, performing well in all areas of the pitch in a vast contrast to the previous season. I actually hate comparing, it’s a completely different squad for a start – but it’s a natural thing to do to see just how far we’ve come and maybe even wet the appetite to see how far we could then go. Nobody really knows that as yet but I’m certainly encouraged by our opening day display, the midfield especially providing that engine room we’ve lacked for a while, with seemingly new skipper Ollie Clarke at the very heart of that. I’ve never really been a fact of stats, especially the public ones such as possession and shots on target – but I’d be very interested to see the ones the clubs’ analysist creates, such as the amount of times the midfield won play back and transitioned that into a chance – that’s something I noticed a lot with Clarke in particular on Tuesday, and something I think we’ll base our game around. Many have said that Tranmere played for a draw, I slightly disagree as it takes away something from our defensive play – we we’re solid and dogged in protecting a clean sheet, something which should be the bare minimum expectation at home, let’s make the One Call a really difficult place for teams to come and build a psychological edge to our game. Moving from back to front now, I guess you can be slightly disappointed by our lack of finishing, but most importantly we got the ball into good areas and created chances – we’ve had one come back off of the bar, forced a few good blocks and really made the visitors work for their clean sheet. Those chances will come good with sharpness and partnerships developing. Notable mentions should goto Cook and O’Keeffe alongside Clarke – Cook has lost weight and looks hungry to succeed for the Stags this term, he was very impressive with his overall work rate, creating some key chances – whilst O’Keeffe played well down the right and really gives us some attacking flair, balanced well with a good defensive display. We’ve still got other players to come in and make an impact, we’re not the finished product by far but for an opening day it’s pleasing. I guess it’s like baking a Victoria Sponge for the first time, it’s come out OK and tastes nice – but with a bit of extra care and experimenting, will leave those eating desperate for the next slice, rather than being content with just the one. Click HERE to read the clubs official match report. STAGS: Marek Stech | Rollin Menayese, Farrend Rawson, Ryan Sweeney | Corey O’Keeffe, Ollie Clarke © George Maris, Mal Benning | Harry Charsley (Tyrese Sinclair 83) | Andy Cook, Jordan Bowery (Nicky Maynard 75) Unused Subs: Aidan Stone, Kellan Gordon, James Perch, Aaron O’Driscoll, Jamie Reid
EFL Trophy Group E Game 1/3, Tuesday 8th September 2020, The One Call Stadium [Behind Closed Doors
With the new Sky Bet League Two season edging closer, Mansfield Town boss Graham Coughlan had one last opportunity to get minutes into players’ legs – in what many saw as a “competitive friendly” against Manchester City’s under 21s side.
The first of three group games in this season’s EFL Trophy saw the Stags on the wrong end of a 3-0 score line, and whilst many will be disappointed and slightly worried by the full time result – I actually believe the scoreline doesn’t reflect our performance and the progress we’ve made. Mansfield lined up with a few younger players but it was still a solid side and one which competed throughout, putting together some good moves but being undone by a simple move of pace and flare to be a goal down at the break. For my money, Mansfield controlled the second half and looked like they were going to draw level and take the games to “bonus point penalties” but were denied by a string of strong saves from the young City keeper. Concerns were raised as we gave two very cheap and very easy goals away in the final two minutes of the match – we have to be stronger, we have to switch on and we have to keep pushing, the two errors, no MISTAKES, completely changed the match and left a very sour taste. With the season just around the corner though I’m determined to take the positives from the match and head into Saturday with some zest and hope! That comes from the emergence of the next generation in Tyrese Sinclair, who had a very comfortable game and impressed throughout – for me, I’d be putting his name on the team sheet for Saturday right now in big, bold, letters. Aaron O’Driscoll too had a decent game, there was one moment in the second half where he sold a very short back pass to Stech which nearly landed us in trouble – but aside from that I felt he did very well in the middle of the back three and again, would be on my team sheet for Saturday. Finally, Ollie Clarke had a very good game running the midfield – he scored a belter on Saturday in the non-streamed game at Burnley and was unlucky not to score. He certainly gave us something we’ve missed for a long while and to be fair, that was evident after the hour mark when he was subbed – presumably to be ready for Saturday. In reality the result is a nothing – yes it would have been nice to win and go into Saturday with a zip, but we came through it without injury having played some good football at times, but also having been punished without any real damage done. Is it Saturday yet?!
Click HERE to read the clubs official match report.
STAGS: Marek Stech | Rollin Menayese, Aaron O’Driscoll, Ryan Sweeney | Corey O’Keeffe, Ollie Clarke © [Kellan Gordon 60], Alistair Smith, Mal Benning | Tyrese Sinclair | Jamie Reid [Jimmy Knowles 83], Nicky Maynard [Josh Scott 60] Unused Subs: Aidan Stone, James Clarke, Aidan Walker, Jason Law
Carabao Cup First Round, Saturday 29th August 2020 – Deepdale Stadium [Behind Closed Doors]
Mansfield Town endured a negative and disappointing return to competitive action, as the new look side suffered a 4-0 defeat at the hands of Championship outfit Preston North End.
The new look Mansfield side were far from ready for competitive action as admitted by boss Graham Coughlan prior to the match, however I’m sure he will be relieved to have achieved his key aim – seemly finishing the match with no injuries. With supporters not being able to attend, I said to myself I wouldn’t sit and write after a game – I’ve always maintained the mantra of “If you weren’t there, you can’t comment” personally, but in this stupid, Covid-adapted footballing world – that’s out of the window. It’s very easy to get wrapped up in the negative points – conceding four goals, defensive errors and ultimately defeat – but let’s be realistic for a second, not only did we play a Preston side who were very unlucky not to have finished in the Championship play-offs, but we’re also a brand new squad who need game time to gel and click into gear – game time which given the forward move of this match, was unable to be found. Personally I’m happy to write this one off and take away the valuable lessons we’ve learned and just focus on the season’s opener in two weeks against Tranmere – yes I know we have the Manchester City U21s match prior to that in the EFL Trophy, but as always whilst those games are competitive, they’re predominantly highlighted as a glorified friendly. Obviously watching through a laptop means you can’t watch the game in your own way – camera’s tend to follow the ball rather than allow you to look at shape from set-plays or players’ off the ball contributions to create pockets of space etc, so it’s tough to convey thoughts onto paper.
However, I wanted to try and feel some form of “normal” in this stupid world, and so here I am! I was actually pleased with our approach play early on – Danny Rose impressed me showing more pace and creating chances for strike partner Andy Cook, who I believe can be a big player for us this season – he was especially unlucky not to score early on in the chance created by Roses’ excellent cut back.
Corey O’Keefe, Mansfield’s new wing-back played very well down the right hand side and would be up there if I was in the business of picking a “man of the match” whilst Tyrese Sinclair also impressed in midfield when he came on during the second half. That is where I think we need to improve on more, we’ve brought in excellent box to box players like George Maris & Ollie Clarke (who we’ve yet to see) but thus far are yet to utilize them by playing through the middle and controlling play. Fair enough you’re not going to get that against Championship opposition and the only games we’ve been permitted to see have been against sides who are from higher levels, I think we need to play a lower league side and, without arrogance being intended, be the dominant side and work on that part of our game. Naturally we shouldn’t be happy with what we’ve seen so far from the defensive side of things, BUT it is still early, there is still time to adapt, add if needed, and improve. Does this result matter? Not really – it’ll be about as memorable of that time you had to walk one way around Tescos. Onwards! Bring on the season… and more importantly, the day we can actually watch in person – armchair football, isn’t for me. Click HERE to read the clubs official match report. STAGS: [1] Marek Stech, [4] Rollin Menayese [6] Farrend Rawson ([15] Aaron O’Driscoll 63) [5] Ryan Sweeney ©, [2] Corey O’Keefe [7] Harry Charsley [14] James Perch ([27] Tyrese Sinclair 63) [10] George Maris [3] Mal Benning, [32] Danny Rose ([19] Jamie Reid 76) [11] Andy Cook Unused Subs: Aidan Stone, James Clarke, Jimmy Knowles, Alistair Smith |
