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Sky Bet League Two, Tuesday 19th October 2021  The long anticipated return of Stephen Quinn following a lengthy six game ban coincided with the Stags’ best performance in weeks last night, as Nigel Clough’s men showed some fight and desire to come from a goal down to draw 1-1 with promotion hopefuls Port Vale.
On a very wet night at the One Call Stadium, there was a real electricity in the air and on the pitch, as the Stags looked a far cry from the whimpering below par performers from the past few weeks, playing patches of good football which on any other evening, would have resulted in three, well overdue, points. A point against an in-form and excellent footballing side however is a very good platform and will no doubt burst the bubble of tension that’s been flooding the dressing room. We now need to ensure that we actually do go on and following the performance up with victory. Quinn’s return really lifted the midfield and gave us much more fire within the middle of the park, with the entire squad showing willing to get stuck in to win the ball back and try and catch Vale on the counter attack – a tactic which led to a number of openings, a penalty which was missed and well taken team goal. Oli Hawkins’ missed penalty shouldn’t be something we dwell on, it was a good guess and save from the keeper and at that point of the game, typified our luck – had we been awarded the one in the second half, I think we’d have buried it and Mr Radford would have been paying for a new roof for the stadium! Hawkins’ playing centre back was another reason for our improved performance, I said over the weekend it was a mistake moving him back upfront and whilst he himself will be slightly annoyed to be playing at the back – he brings a calming presence and is very good in the air and on the deck, allowing us to play with calm and fluidity. I’d leave him there until we’ve either created a solid enough run of form to be able to move him and bring in Forrester, Nartey or Hewitt – or preferably, got to January 1st and signed a commanding central defender – four months between deadline day and the opening of the January window is more than enough time to identify and get a deal done with a club and player – another rant, for another day. Clough should have Maris back for Saturday which will boost the midfield further and isn’t too far away from having Gordon back in the fold to give us another option down the right hand side – so the troubles for me are very nearly over, it’s time to keep working on playing the counter attacking, fluid way we did last night (and earlier in the season) and push ourselves back up the table. I wouldn’t say it was the best performance of the season and we clearly still have areas we can improve upon, but we’ve again laid a solid platform to jump from – it’s time to get the landing right, starting with the long trip to Exeter on Saturday. STAGS: Bishop, McLaughlin, Hewitt (J. Clarke 59’), Rawson, Charsley, O. Clarke, Bowery, Hawkins, Quinn (Sinclair 89’), Oates (Johnson 77’), Lapslie UNUSED SUBS: Shelvey, Burke, Ward, Law Attendance: 4,204 (733) Comments are closed.
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