Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Deano back from illness??? Thought Atkinson had a decent game at York, would be harsh to drop him again.

Moly MUST start for me.

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Absolute 100% must win game of the season. With Wycombe playing Northampton tomorrow, gives us the chance to be either 7 points in front of one of them or 6 points clear of both. (would prefer the latter)

With tough away games against Southend and Oxford coming next, don't want to be sweating on the Wimbledon game.

A win tomorrow and we are safe - Simple as

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

It depends who JB thinks can cope best with their incredible hulk, Rhead, up front. A Parkin/Akinfenwa -type player of the kind we often struggle to contain.
This will be a tough test against a very physical team who are top of the form table and still have an outside chance of making the play offs. Agree about Moly, Smudgie, as much as him being needed to help the defence to contain Clucas as his attacking "wand". I'm sure James has it all sussed out!

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Considering how Mansfield scored their three goals against The Dale last weekend (all headers) I'd have thought having 3 CBs and a set of step-ladders might be handy for tomorrow's game.

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Interesting to see if they start Clucas. Since his injury he's been brought on in the second half in the last five games and hasn't - from memory - scored. I'd fancy Tom or Deano if fit to contain him. But we do need the stepladder, looking at the highlights of the Rochdale game

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Unbelievable! Again!
Well done to the team, and, with over 2,000 at the game, well done to JB for his efforts yesterday.

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Not the best display ive seen, but a welcome point.funnily enough i predicted 15 mins prior, that Kal would take the penalty.:D

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

A game that won't have won any new fans but at least we got a point.

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

May the spirit of Mystic Meg be upon you.
Every point is vital.
Did the extra spectators make any difference, Cashers? Or were they all on a day out from Mansfield?

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Well another point gained towards safety, which probably I would have taken before the start!!

Well done lads, for never giving up.

Onward & Upward

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

on the balance of play a fair result but considering this team thrashed Rochdale 3-0 it's a great result, almost safe we are now on 51 points. last season Barnet were relegated on 51 points with a -10 goal average. my guess is Torquay & Bristol Rovers for the drop, I was nowhere near with my predictions at the start of the season

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

I guess that mab will be telling us that a day out from Mansfield
made the biggest difference. :(

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Memo to JB:

We like injury time goals, but we don't mind the boys scoring in normal time :D

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

What a tough battle that was !!
The ref decided (both teams),that he would keep his whistle in his pocket and let go numerous challenges,elbows,fouls etc..and it turned into a real 1970s type game.To be fair,he was consistent,he missed everything :)
I don't think i have ever seen a bigger set of lads and the lively surface didn't help us one bit.(sprinklers not working !!!)
The lads who stood out for me were the battlers,ie Tom,Kayo,Dean and Hunty,it just wasn't a game for the ball players today,and would take a point all day long

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

I predicted Torquay bottom, should of had a bet ! Though my prediction of Pompey as champions was a little far wrong!

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Good summary in my view, thought Joyce, who aint me favourite had a good un also.

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Another point another step closer to safety!:smoky:

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

660 odd from Mansfield according to the match radio commentator sat right behind me.

Cracking point in the scheme of things.

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

I agree with most of that - but we looked a different team when Piero came on. I felt he was far more of a threat than Moly. I sometimes think we look at Moly through those famous rose-tinted specs and we expect too much of him.

Those of us who have a taxi booked for 4.55 in order to catch vital trains have mixed feelings about these late goals. Great for the team - but we do like to see the ball go into the net!

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

A difficult pitch on which to try and play a passing style of play due to dodgy sprinklers! Yes, The Stags were a big set of lads. They were all 'big uns' except their full backs who were "normal" size!:gooddog:
I thought that we were the better team in the first half but that we were quite poor in the second half. Once again we conceded centre midfield by letting them come at us. This was classically illustrated in their disallowed goal where Peter Murphy backtracked some twenty plus yards into our own penatly box and then still failed to get a tackle in! Simple pass across and goal!:eek:...luckily disallowed for off side!:p Apart from his cracking left foot shot I though Peter was poor throughout the match and I would have liked Pierro to have come on for him sooner. Koyode won lots of headers and although I am not a fan of 'route one' stuff he was doing what was asked of him all the match. I was really biting my nails as we entered 'added on' time but I was really impressed with Cal's coolness and confidence for the penalty. The ref took ages to sort out the players on the edge of the "D" during which one of The Stags subs was trying to bait Cal but he just kept playing 'keepie uppie' and kept his cool!:banane58:
He despatched the penalty with aplomb! The crowd went bonkers as if we had won!:mosher::theband:
Praise to the team for keeping it up for the whole 96 minutes once again on a difficult pitch, against a big difficult team.:thankya:
ON STANLEY ON

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Choirboy,the left back with the Italian sounding name is 6-4 !!!!,not really your typical fullback :)
Agree with RR, I am a fan of Piero,would play him every game ,although his goal return is not stand out,he gives us a bit of quality

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Well we didn't, and he hadn't! Clucas bamboozled 3 of our defenders out on our left before laying on Mansfield's goal. That goal was surely coming after, as JB said himself in his video summary, Cox changed the game with his 3 attacking subs. Why is it always the opposition that does this and not us? 15 minutes into the second half our attacks were going nowhere with Shay puffing and blowing understandably after very little match time, and Hatfield had been ineffective, plus missing a sitter from just in front of goal. I just don't get why JB didn't change things at that stage with Gray, Mingoia, Naismith, Webber and Windass on the bench. We only put their defence under any sustained pressure after we put on the late subs, and the Stag's noisy support suddenly lapsed into nervous silence.
Sure, I'm grateful for the point though it was arguably a lucky one, but we really needed the three with away games next against two teams well in contention for the play offs. JB is doing a great job, but I wish he didn't have such a blind spot as far as subs are concerned.
Rant over!

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

A frequently repeated rant - not that I am disagreeing with you. :)

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Frequently repeated reason for rant! OK, I'm keeping schtum from now on.

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

I actually left slightly disappointed not with a point but more the performance we have been very stop start at Home this Season and five home wins tells it's own story for me the set-up away from Home suits us more with containing teams and hitting on the counter attack.

At Home we have seen glimpses of how we can take teams apart with the Chesterfield & Morecambe performances which were both high tempo quick out of the blocks games where we took the game to the opponents other than that we have struggled and I think within the Squad we have the players more than capable of changing our style especially at home.

The plus side is that we are close to the finishing line and League Safety for another season and for that credit to the Staff & Players for turning it around.

Re: Mansfield Match Thread.............
 

Bit harsh that Redraine,they seemed to get a foothold in the game when they made their subs and went 4-4-2 with a bit of width.
You wonder why they didn't set up that way from the start,and give they big lads crosses rather than flick ons.
for the goal the lad did well,but Joycy didn't track his man who fired it in,which was unfortunate as he had a decent game