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Mansfield Town 3-0 Bradford City [Danny Rose, Nicky Maynard, Andy Cook] | Sky Bet League Two | Saturday 25th January 2020 | One Call Stadium  *The views expressed in this article, are solely those of the writer and not those of their associated organisations*
That winning feeling is such an epic one! Let’s be honest here, it’s a feeling Mansfield should have had weeks ago – which highlights the importance of hard work and a committed attitude, so hats off and a huge well done to the players – overcoming Bradford City 3-0 in a victory which SHOULD go a way to kick-starting this campaign. It’s very easy after such a victory, especially with the manner in which we played, to get carried away and say we’re going to go on a good run now. The next four games are really tough against four teams scrapping, fighting, pinching and punching around us – four games wrapped with expectation. Cementing one brick, doesn’t make a home. Victory and a clean sheet gives us a massive spring board yes, but we have to work even harder now to maintain the standard set – standards which Graham Coughlan will (a) want to improve on, and (b) will not accept anyone who drops off of maintaining them. The way in which we played was fantastic, moving the ball with intent and patience in equal measure – playing with courage and desire to go and not only win a football match, but tighten up at home and reward supporters for nearly twelve months of faltering and poor performance. It was announced late in the week that Lee Glover had departed the club, he was seemingly (although let’s be fair here, there genuinely IS such a thing as a coincidence) replaced on the touchline with Jamie McGuire, his passion and energy really helped to put in a spring into our step and her certainly fits into the Coughlan/ Dunne mould more – I’d be sad to see him have to hang up his playing boots (having been playing for AFC Mansfield this season) but selfishly, Jamie McGuire involved with the Mansfield Town FC first team on match days, is things you’d love to see. It was very difficult to pick a man of the match yesterday, Danny Rose was perhaps the right choice for me, covering every blade of grass, winning battles, dropping deep to create, defending like a…. who am I kidding, Danny Rose played like he does every other week, hero! It was good to see the two new lads involved, we’ve needed some fluidity in the middle for a while and Charsley brings that, whilst Joe Riley, arriving from Plymouth, performed well at Right Back and gives up many an option – I like and rate young Clarke, who’s done nothing wrong at all, but Riley brings the experience we’ve been asking for having played at League One level. One win and one clean sheet doesn’t change the season and eradicate the weaknesses that we’ve allowed to creep in, and I still believe that we need at least two more bodies within the squad, experienced ones, BUT it gives us a foothold, a ledge to try and climb from – we go again on Tuesday night against an Oldham side clinging around us on 30 points, proving tough to break down at the moment with four draws – let’s go there, play on the front foot and go into next Saturday with two wins, rather than one. It’s not about what you have done or where you’ve been, it’s about where you’re going and how you’re going to get there. Match Recap Mansfield added defender Joe Riley to the ranks before the game, arriving from Plymouth Argyle having been on the bench for the Pilgrims against the Stags last week. He went straight into the starting line-up along with fellow newbee Harry Charsley who arrived a week ago. Matt Preston and Hayden White missed out as the Stags opted for a flexible 4-4-2/ 4-3-3 with Hamilton alternating between wide left midfield and as the third striker alongside Rose and Maynard. In other transfer news, Conrad Logan departed on loan to Forest Green Rovers until the end of the season. Click HERE to read the clubs official match report FULL TIME: Mansfield Town 3-0 Bradford City | Attendance 5,537 (1,467) STAGS: [4-3-3] Bobby Oljenik | Joe Riley, Krystian Pearce ©, Ryan Sweeney, Mal Benning | Alex MacDonald, Neal Bishop, Harry Charsley (Willem Tomlinson 83) | Nicky Maynard (Jimmy Knowles 74), Danny Rose (Andy Cook 74), CJ Hamilton Unused Substitutes: Aidan Stone, Matt Preston, Otis Khan, James Clarke *The views expressed in this article, are solely those of the writer and not those of their associated organisations* Comments are closed.
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