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Full Time Score Mansfield Town 0-0 Newport County AET Newport win 5-3 On penalty’s (Aggregate Stags 1-1 Newport) Competition Sky Bet League Two – Play-Off Semi-Final Second Leg Venue The One Call Stadium Stags Goal Scorer(s) / (Penaltys: Ajose SCORED Hamilton SCORED Walker SAVED Benning SCORED) Attendance 7,361 (1,118)  Craig Priest writes…
Missing out on a trip to Wembley is how the story ends for the 2018/19 season, in the cruellest of ways – a penalty shootout. Honestly I don’t know what else to write whilst holding back the tears – other than I’m incredibly proud of Mansfield Town FC, as yet another season comes to an end. I’m not going to sit here and look in detail at how it all went wrong, that’s for another day when the emotion is far less raw – but what I will briefly comment on is the future of Stags boss David Flitcroft, and that quite simply is to remain Manager of the club, and finish the job next season. Flitcroft has built a squad which for 95% of the campaign has delivered tremendous football with a fighting spirit to match, and whilst the other 5% has had detrimental effect on promotion hopes and dreams – I walked away from the One Call Stadium yesterday with a tear or two running down my face, satisfied that the players had given it everything in the end. Going into the game, the Stags couldn’t afford to reflect on where they’d slipped in the previous weeks, nor get drawn into arguments about the referees display on Thursday – the only thing which could affect potential promotion, was what the boys did on the pitch. At half time I did wonder how we weren’t on the end of a hammering, as Newport dominated, but after a change in shape at the break Mansfield did everything bar score and had just ONE effort dropped, I’d be writing with the jubilation of a forthcoming visit to Wembley – alas, it wasn’t to be. When the game goes to a penalty shootout, it becomes a lottery, a slip or stumble here, or a confidence loss there and the pendulum swings widely in the opposite direction – if anything you could say Walker was destined to miss from the spot, having not missed a spot kick all season and taken the golden boot. There is no blame there, anyone who does put blame of those takers, does so out of sheer idiocy. I’m as frustrated and hurt as the next supporter at failing to achieve promotion or a Wembley visit, and yes I agree that an inquest does need to be made into what went wrong – however, I’ve been watching the Stags for nearly twenty years now and I can honestly say that the class of 2018/19 have produced some wonderful stuff, and I’m proud to have witnessed every game, even that 45 minutes at Forest Green which didn’t bloody count! I’ll share my views on the season as a whole over the coming days as the pain drains from my system, and of course I’ll have my say on the Mansfield Matters Podcast on Thursday at 6.3pm (ish) over on our Facebook Page in the end of season review show, for now though – the hurt and pain still lives deep, however I’m a firm believer that a manager given time to build on failure can deliver success and I already await the new season. Thank you to the players who’ve made this season thrilling to follow, and thanks to you guys for reading the blog or watching/listening to the podcast this season – don’t look back in anger. This ain’t my journey, this ain’t the end – I’m waiting here, ‘till I see you again. MATCH REPORT David Flitcroft was forced into one chance as Neal Bishop picked up an injury during the first leg, he was replaced by Willem Tomlinson – read how the action unfolded HERE with the clubs official match report FULL TIME: Mansfield Town 0-0 Newport County AET, Newport win 5-3 on penaltys STAGS [3-5-2] Conrad Logan, Ben Turner, Krystian Pearce ©, Ryan Sweeney, Gethin Jones (Jorge Grant 120+1), Alex MacDonald, Willem Tomlinson (Mal Benning HT), Jacob Mellis (Will Atkinson 90), CJ Hamilton , Tyler Walker, Danny Rose (Nicky Ajose 105+1) Unused Subs: Jordan Smith, Alistair Smith, Otis Khan Referee: Michael Salisbury Comments are closed.
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