Digging in the heels | Stags 1-1 Carlisle Utd

Sky Bet League Two | Tuesday 16th March 2021 – One Call Stadium [Behind Closed Doors]

As the end of the season starts to become visible in the far distance, Mansfield Town needed to dig in their heels and cut out silly errors in order to go again in League Two next season – something they finally did last night, thanks to Stephen McLaughlins free kick in the final ten minutes.

The Stags had again gone behind to what some may say for a soft, but instinctive, goal – however rather than crumble, they created a number of openings and deserved a point – easing the pressure on Saturday’s clash with bottom of the table Grimsby, the second of three consecutive home games.

Boss Nigel Clough made two changes with Stone returning between the sticks and skipper Clarke rested, I was slightly disappointed to not see one or two more as we’re consistently looking tired – however mass rotation will disrupt things so it’s a fine balancing act!

The most pleasing thing was dropping back into a diamond, that system doesn’t require us to put playing at 100MPH and is still effective in nullifying threat from the opposition which for me, is bare minimum for a home game.

Another pleasing aspect is that we finally got to see Oli Sarkic who looked determined to fight for a place after so long on the side line, having him back along with returns shortly for Lapslie and Maris will really give us that much needed boost as the games keep coming.

The next two are really tough games and will be played at pace – Grimsby are in desperate need of wins to claw off of the bottom, whilst Forest Green are hunting down the title – hungry for promotion to League One after a number of seasons in and around the play-offs.

Both teams will be fighting for very different reasons, we need to ensure we’re up for that fight – because failure to get anything from the next two games coupled with good results for Southend who play fellow potential relegation dangers Scunthorpe and Walsall in their next two games – puts us in real danger, a danger we’re good enough to avoid.

Click HERE to read the clubs official match report.

STAGS: Aidan Stone | Kellan Gordon, Farrend Rawson, James Perch ©, Mal Benning | Stephen McLaughlin, Harry Charsley, Stephen Quinn (Oli Sarkic 75), Jason Law (Ollie Clarke 89) | Jamie Reid, Jordan Bowery Unused Subs: Marek Stech, Ryan Sweeney, Jake Wright, Keaton Ward, Tyrese Sinclair