Static Staggies | Sutton United 2-0 Stags

Sky Bet League Two, Tuesday 23rd November 2021       

After a solid run of consecutive wins, Mansfield Town were bound to have a stumble sooner rather than later – with said stumble coming on the long journey to league newcomers Sutton United.

Nigel Clough said after the game that he felt had his side scored at 1-0 down, we’d have taken something home – he’s probably right on reflection, but it wouldn’t have been deserved as Sutton were the better side, and we played right into their hands.

We allowed them to press high and dominate, failing to get the ball under control in the final third and repeat the strong midfield performance we saw against Scunthorpe, with silly errors creeping in for the first goal – we deal with the first set play well enough but don’t deal with the second phase of play, whilst for the second goal – fail to clear our lines from a long punt over the top, again not picking up the second ball.

We’ve swung from being short at the back to being short up front, and that’s the difference – we can manage and cope with giving silly goals away such as the first, but only if we’ve got some pace and energy at the other end which, with Rhys Oates and Danny Johnson both out, and the quick turnaround of games plus the travel, we just don’t have.

I was surprised Clough didn’t change it with that considered and again he admitted post-match that he took a gamble, and I applaud that – we all get things wrong, it’s how you respond to that! Crawley next, time to respond.

​STAGS: Bishop, Hewitt, O‘Toole, Hawkins (Forrester 73’), McLaughlin, Charsley, O. Clarke, Maris (Sinclair 67’), Quinn (Lapslie 46’), Stirk, Bowery UNUSED SUBS: Shelvey, Rawson, Law, Gale
Attendance: 2,497 (298)