It’s LIVE! No Room for Error: Stags 1-1 Lincoln

Full Time Score Mansfield Town 1-1 Lincoln City
Competition Sky Bet League Two
Venue One Call Stadium
Stags Goal Scorer(s) Krystian Pearce
Attendance 7,177 (1,603)

Craig Priest writes…

You can practise something a million and one times, but in football there is only the ONE time something counts for real – match day. There’s never any room for error and as we approach the business end of the season the pressure to perform live every single week is ramping up – so what better test of our character than by taking on League Leaders Lincoln City LIVE in front of the nation of Sky Sports.

The Stags have suffered of late with injuries, suspensions and tiredness really catching up on them and taking their toll, the 0-0 draw with Crawley last week sort of hit the reset button but what Mansfield needed was something to cheer – so going into the last eight games, have David Flitcrofts men got enough in the tank to finish in the top three?

I’ll always believe so deep down, although last night I couldn’t help but think we need to find some energy from somewhere, as again after about an hour or so, we were slowing down and starting to make silly mistakes and given our lack of real fire power, we can’t afford to do this.

Fortunately our defence has been solid all season predominantly and really kept the Imps at bay, had it not been for a debatable penalty, the Stags may well have taken all three points from the Champions elect – I think the squad can take that as a positive and use that to once again tighten the screw and give us the foundation to see out the season unbeaten, which should be enough to deliver league one football.

We were backed by a brilliant crowd and we need to maintain that energy in the terraces for the remainder of the season, the players seem to thrive upon it and on any other night, may well have done so to put us into a more commanding lead.

I’ve sat here debating what to write, do I pick out errors and ifs and buts? Do I say what shape and personnel I’d opt for? No. What’s important now is togetherness, belief and energy – from the very first second to the last. We are LIVE, there is no room for error, we can create TV Gold or a classic movie – or we can play out a flop and a farce. It’s in our hands - eight games to go and back into third. 

MATCH REPORT
Critically Stags were able revert to the back three which has been near water tight all season as Matt Preston and Ryan Sweeney both returned from injury, they replaced Turner and MacDonald respectively, as Mansfield reverted back to the trusted 3-4-1-2 

CLICK HERE for the clubs official report.

FULL TIME: Mansfield Town 1-1 Lincoln City
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STAGS [3-4-1-2] Conrad Logan, Matt Preston, Krystain Pearce ©, Ryan Sweeney, Gethin Jones, Neal Bishop, Jacob Mellis (Willem Tomlinson 90+3), Mal Benning, Jorge Grant (Alex MacDonald 59), Tyler Walker, CJ Hamilton
Unused Subs: Jordan Smith, Otis Khan, Nicky Ajose, Ben Turner, Alistar Smith,

Referee: Graham Scott