Lasting the 90 | Crawley Town 1-0 Stags

Sky Bet League Two | Saturday 13th March 2021 – Peoples Pension Stadium [Behind Closed Doors]

I’m not entirely sure if the phrase “consistently inconsistent” makes any sense – but if anyone needs a definition, see Mansfield Town Football Club – who YET AGAIN failed to do the basics and in the last 90 seconds, managed to turn a comfortable and reasonable point, into a frustrating and disappointing defeat.

Performances don’t matter at this stage of the season, yes they help, but so long as you do the basics and keep things tight you’ll be OK – but again the Stags aren’t doing it. Is it fatigue? Is it quality? I’m getting tired of going through the motions.

Nigel Clough has had a tough job since he first came in and I guess deep down we knew we’d always be in a fight – with 12 games left, fortunately one in hand on second bottom Southend, we’re now ten points ahead of them and can’t afford to keep making these mistakes if we want those last maybe six to eight games, to be stress free.

Personally now I’d like to see Clough make sweeping changes in the line-up to freshen things up, I do get that when you win a game you want to try and keep the side settled and generate momentum – but the problem we have is, we’re playing Saturday-Tuesday-Saturday and have little time for rest, fatigue is clearly an issue so let’s mix things up and see what happens.

We’ve got Ryan Sweeney back from suspension and experienced defender Jake Wright sitting on the bench, let’s pair them up or put one alongside Perch whose been excellent at centre half.

Midfield is a bit of an issue with Lapslie coming back from injury and Maris still out, but we’ve seen in recent weeks we can change formation a bit to sort that – let’s have a look at Keaton Ward who I thought did well yesterday in the second half, or Harry Charsley with Law in my opinion performing far too well in the front three to be pulled back into the middle.

Up front Sarkic was back on the bench yesterday so will get his opportunity sooner rather than later with Sinclair knocking on the door too – we have options, let’s manage them well and get through to clear, safe, water.  

Click HERE to read the clubs official match report.

STAGS: Marek Stech | Kellan Gordon, Farrend Rawson, James Perch, Mal Benning | Stephen McLaughlin, Ollie Clarke © (Keaton Ward 45), Stephen Quinn | Jason Law (Harry Charsley 75) Jordan Bowery, Jamie Reid (Tyrese Sinclair 68)
Unused Subs: Jamie Pardington, Ryan Swneey, Jake Wright, Oli Sarckic