Today v Mansfield

[BTLawson]

Went to the game today and I'm obviously delighted with the result. To be fair we could have easily scored 4 or 5 even though we didn't play to our best. Mansfield are in a real mess and it was evident today why they are in the bottom 2. Special word to our defence today-they were superb. Mark Roberts had a fantastic game in particular and was my man of the match, holding the defence together and making some great tackles. Both centre backs looked comfortable together and dealt with Boulding very well.
A decent turn out from the Stanley fans considering Fraser Eagle cancelled yet another coach to an away game.Also worth noting the stewards weren't as bad as in previous visits. In the end they just gave up trying to sit people down and stood at the front.
Very happy tonight. More of the same on Monday please.

[Stanleymad]

Monday?????????????????????????? i thought it was tuesday the next game [new years day]

[Kiwi John]

Tremendous result...scarey stuff this 2 in a row..I was up 5 minutes before KO and my computer went down...it has only now decided to go again. Thanks to Cowboy for keeping me up to date with scores.I drank two cups of coffee...one in each half,so I guess my 'tactics' kinda worked.ON STANLEY ON

[Stanleymad]

LOL Kiwi wondered where u were, between u & your coffee & KSH with his fags - did a good job

[Kiwi John]

Better not pack up for Bradford game..

[Stanleymad]

Hope not kiwi, bet that was a long time felt not having pc, mind u 365 was working perfectly for a change

[cmonstanley]

we are the underdogs nobody likes us we dont care we will survive.just like another team i love

[Haggis316]

Report on match:

Mansfield 1-2 Accrington Stanley - Football News | SPORTBOX.tv - Nothing Inside But Sport


RIP

[maccawozzagod]

I thought it was a pretty dour match that was fairly uneventful until the last 15 minutes.

Dunbavin had very little to do and may as well have come into the stands with us, not because Mansfield were that poor but more a case of Roberts and Webb not allowing them anywhere near. Leam and Phil were also very effective on the flanks and there seems to be a good understanding developing between the four of them. Roberts in particular though was outstanding and gets my Man of the Match.


good 3 points down there as they have been on a good run recently and hadn't conceded for 5 or 6 matches.

[AccyMad]

Looks like we'll have to wait for Granada Reports to show the goals, The Championship was only on for half an hour again

[Stanleymad]

Originally Posted by AccyMad

Looks like we'll have to wait for Granada Reports to show the goals, The Championship was only on for half an hour again

Dont remind me seem the league have been dropped from the precious championship, should be a league programme for us lower down without much breaks as it is

[Phil Whalley]

We fully deserved the win after an excellent second-half display, we out-passed and out-fought them, and some good running to support the man with the ball meant that we had options to hand. Roberts and Harris will get the plaudits, but I think Bavs also had a quietly impressive game. He made a vital early save from Boulding who had got clean through with alarming ease through the inside left channel. An early goal for Mansfield would have made for an entirely different game, but Bavs kept his head and spread himself and got the block in. The rest of the first half was nondescript, but that was in part due to the Stanley defence. Mansfield aren’t the long-ball clogging team you might expect, and they were trying to work it through to Boulding on the deck, but Robbo and Webb made a number of excellent interventions. Craney was slow to get going and I thought his attitude was questionable at first, petulantly having a go at others around him, but he calmed down and started to pass the ball as we know he can. As for Jay Harris, he’s maturing into a terrific player now. He was asked to play on the left of midfield and Jay just got on with it and did his job well.
<O</O
0-0 looked the most likely outcome at half-time, but Stanley started to get on top around the hour mark and what looked to be happening was that Edwards and Richardson were pushing up with more intent, giving Jay and Miles more leeway to come inside and try to work the openings. This was risky and we relied a couple of times on Robbo coming across to cover, but it worked in that we began to hold possession better in the middle of the park. It was frustrating that we still failed to find the through ball for Roscoe to run on to down the middle – on a number of occasions we saw either Mullers or Roscoe crossing for our inrushing midfielders when surely it should be the other way round. In fact, Mullers produced a peach of a cross from the right that he would have nutted home no problem had it been provided for him. I can see why people get frustrated with Miles, but I thought he did okay today, his close control and accuracy of pass enables us to retain possession in and around the middle third, though it also helped that we had players in the middle of the park to support him, in fact, all the midfield worked hard to support the man with the ball, and this was the most encouraging aspect of the second half, the extent to which it was a team display.
<O</O
We scored the opener partly because we got a good early cross in. A few minutes before the goal we had broken down the right and stretched them, but then dallied on the ball and lost the opportunity. This time Jay was sent through down the right and he pinged across a low cross that Muggleton parried and Mullers was there to convert, with the goal standing in spite of Mansfield protests about an offside. We then expected Mansfield to throw everything forward, but they had hardly had a sniff of goal during the half, so it was a case of Stanley just keeping on doing what they had been doing, pressing and working hard in the middle third. Boulding did get a half-chance down the left, but he blasted wide, and Bavs had his near post covered anyway.
<O</O
By this time Jay was in full marauding mode, and in the last minute he latched on to a pass and steamed through the middle to be brought down in the area, a stone-cold pen. Their man got a second yellow for the challenge and walked, and Proccy blasted the pen down the middle, with Muggleton getting a trailing foot to the ball but not enough to divert it over the bar. Game over we thought, but Mansfield found some room down the left and a low cross was turned in at the near post. We kicked off and it was good to see Jay set off on another run into the heart of the Mansfield defence, no thought of fannying around at the back with it. They cleared into touch and that was that. Bavs was understandably narked at losing his clean sheet bonus so late on (no doubt Eric saw the bright side) but he had given another decent display, quick off his line and always trying to command the box.
<O</O
It said a lot that Muggleton was made MOTM for them when he hadn’t had that much to do, they just couldn’t compete with us in the second half and looked very much like a side bereft of confidence and without key players. So if there is a word of caution it is that we were up against one of the weakest sides in the league. I had the luxury of a lift to and from the game today thanks to a Mansfield fan I know via a work colleague (thanks very much Dennis!) and l got the full story of Haslam and how he has stripped the club of its playing assets and pocketed the money. So going into the game I was thinking that this lot were there for the taking, and I was hoping that Stanley would play an attacking game. And though the first half saw both sides cancel each other out, our second half tactics were perfect, we simply stepped up and pushed them back and didn’t give them a chance to build any momentum. But I also felt sorry for the Mansfield faithful that continue to turn up in the full knowledge that their cash is going into the pockets of this leech, but it’s a sobering thought that most football clubs rely on the good faith of owners to run the club not according to what they can make out of it but out of a sense of responsibility and devotion. If Mansfield and Wrexham go down, it won’t be because they were too small to survive in the Football League, but because their assets made them a target for unscrupulous businessmen. Perhaps it’s no bad thing that this doesn’t apply to us.
<O</O
Happy New Year everyone
<O</O
Phil

[Tin Monkey]

Thanks for the report Phil.

I do think that Mark Roberts has been awesome in the last few games. He wins most things in the air and he really gets stuck in. Now if only he'd score a few goals at the other end, we may well have a new Stuart Whitehead/Owen

[Haggis316]

Thanks for the report Phil - as analytical about the day's play as always.

RIP

[Haggis316]

A slide show of the match:

VIDEO SLIDESHOW: Mansfield Town 1 Accrington Stanley 2, Saturday, 29th December 2007 - Mansfield Chad

RIP