Season 16/17 Stagsnet Match Report
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Mansfield Town
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Hartlepool United
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Whiteman 19, 76, D.Rose 26, MacDonald 71
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Attendance: 4309 (331 from Hartlepool)
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Date: 11 February 2017
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SUPER STAGS PULVERISE POOR 'POOL
Martin Shaw and Simon Chamberlain at the One Call Stadium, Field Mill Mansfield Town hammered hapless Hartlepool 4-0 in a clinical performance this afternoon, for the biggest win of the season. The Stags played very well in spells and always looked comfortable, though also looked capable of going up a gear and in truth weren’t at their best throughout. Once again it was Ben Whiteman, on loan from Sheffield United, who stole the show with another fabulous performance. The win took Mansfield’s run in 2017 to 6 wins and a draw in 7 games. It lifted the Stags into the play-off zone in 7th place, and just three points behind Luton in 4th, and 6 points behind Carlisle in the final automatic place in 3rd. The Stags are playing such good football that anything seems possible. The Stags scored twice midway through the first half. Firstly, Hayden White and Shaq Coulthirst exchanged a series of passes on the right, before Coulthirst got to the byline, pulled back into the middle, and the ball came back to Whiteman who fired into the net from 12 yards. The second goal started with a great tackle by Benning on Nathan Thomas to win the ball inside his own half. Benning pushed forward into the Hartlepool half, laid off to Danny Rose, who was dispossessed but immediately charged down Matthew Bates, the ball rebounded off Rose, towards the goalkeeper, but Rose got to the loose ball first, took it around the keeper and rolled into the empty net. Terrific from Benning, woeful from the Hartlepool defence, and great pace and a clinical finish from Rose. With Hartlepool ineffective against a rock solid Stags defence, 2-0 looked comfortable, but the win was sealed with a fine goal from substitute Alex MacDonald on his home debut. A good ball from Benning put MacDonald away just inside the Hartlepool half, MacDonald moved forward and fired a low shot into the bottom left corner from 22 yards. A tremendous finish. Then Whiteman scored his second to make it 4-0. Matt Green laid off to the overlapping MacDonald, who stood up a delightful left footed cross, perfect for Whiteman to head downwards towards the goal. It took a deflection off a defender taking it past the keeper. The outstanding Whiteman nearly had a hat-trick when he intercepted a stray-pass from former Stags loanee Sean Kavanagh, surged forward, and fired a tremendous shot which produced an equally tremendous one-handed save from the goalkeeper. Three more points for the Stags in front of 4,000 home fans, with a wonderful atmosphere. Accrington come to Mansfield on Tuesday. If you haven’t seen the Stags play recently, and can possibly get to the game, don’t miss out, because the team are on fire. A great stat from Paul Taylor, that the first goal today was Mansfield’s 3000th football league goal at home. The groundstaff did a great job to get the pitch in very good condition after a very cold couple of nights and a light snowfall overnight. They had the pitch covers on, and this morning cleared the snow off the pitch covers before removing the covers. The Stags came into the game in a great run of 5 wins and a draw in 6 games in 2017. Steve Evans made one change from the side that won so impressively at Barnet. In came Alfie Potter, who had looked lively as substitute at Barnet. He replaced CJ Hamilton. Hartlepool, under new manager Dave Jones, had one point from his first 2 games in charge. They made one change from the side that drew with Yeovil, Nathan Thomas starting in place of Lewis Alessandra. Thomas had had a superb start to the season with a run of goals and collecting the League Two player of the month award, and is just returning from injury. Thomas had been fired up to play against Mansfield in the last games, but here he made no impact at all. Also included in Hartlepool side was Sean Kavanagh, on loan from Fulham, at left back, where he was unimpressive on loan for Mansfield last season. The big scoreboard was back working, and was hugely improved with a better sized stopwatch and the score, plus relevant updates like the attendance, scorers etc. The Stags started the game on the front foot. On 6 minutes, Coulthirst showed good strength to force his way forward, then he showed quick feet and he fired a left footed shot wide of the right post from 25 yards. On 8 minutes, Jake Kean came out of his area to head away, and Hartlepool had a chance with a lob, but didn’t and the half-chance was gone as Benning cleared well. On 12 minutes, Potter manoeuvred himself in to a shooting position on his right foot, but it was blocked. On 14 minutes, a mistake by Bennett, and Amond lobbed over Kean but also over the bar from the edge of the area. On 16 minutes, there was a minute’s applause to remember local 16 year old Lewis Crouch. The Stags took the lead on 19 minutes. White and Coulthirst exchanged a series of passes on the right, before Coulthirst got to the byline, pulled back into the middle, and the ball came back to Whiteman who fired into the net from 12 yards. Mansfield doubled the lead on 26 minutes. The goal started with a great tackle by Benning on Nathan Thomas to win the ball inside his own half. Benning pushed forward into the Hartlepool half, laid off to Danny Rose, who was dispossessed but immediately charged down Matthew Bates, the ball rebounded off Rose, towards the goalkeeper, but Rose got to the loose ball first, took it around the keeper and rolled into the empty net. Terrific from Benning, woeful from the Hartlepool defence, and great pace and a clinical finish from Rose. On 27 minutes, Whiteman’s ball forward towards Danny Rose, but a defender got there first and only headed the ball to Coulthirst, who turned and shot wide of the right post from 20 yards. Byrom’s free kick on 34 minutes was met by Bennett’s header from 12 yards which the keeper tipped wide. On 39 minutes, good approach play from the Stags, and Whiteman fired in a shot from 28 yards, straight at the keeper, Danny Rose was sniffing around hoping for the keeper to spill it in the greasy conditions, but he held on well. Another good move from Mansfield on 41 minutes, a great ball forward to Whiteman on the right. He slid the ball across towards the unmarked Coulthirst but a defender intercepted for a corner. It looked like Coulthirst would have a tap-in, and both Coulthirst and Whiteman put their head in the hands. From the resulting corner from the right by Byrom, a free header for Bennett, which he put wide. He also put his head in his hands and he should have got it on target. Danny Rose was booked on 43 minutes for a sliding challenge on Donnelly. Donnelly had to go off at half time. On 45+2 minutes, a corner from the right for Hartlepool by Walker found Featherstone who fired high over the bar. The Stags comfortably 2-0 ahead at the break. Half time 2-0 The opening 25 minutes to the second was pretty quiet. On 55 minutes, a short throw-in from White to Whiteman, who in turn found Danny Rose, who side-footed over the bar. Two minutes later, Potter played the ball back to Whiteman who fired a left footed shot high and wide. Alex MacDonald, signed from Oxford on deadline day, replaced Alfie Potter, signed from Northampton on deadline day, on 65 minutes. On 67 minutes, a good header away by Bennett. Green replaced Danny Rose on 70 minutes. The Stags made it 3-0 on 71 minutes fine goal from MacDonald. A good ball from Benning put MacDonald away just inside the Hartlepool half, MacDonald moved forward and fired a low shot into the bottom left corner from 22 yards. A tremendous finish. On 75 minutes, great play from Green to keep the ball in down by the corner flag and he hooked the ball back but it didn’t quite find Coulthirst. On 76 minutes, Whiteman scored his second to make it 4-0. Matt Green laid off to the overlapping MacDonald, who stood up a delightful left footed cross, perfect for Whiteman to head downwards towards the goal. It took a deflection off a defender taking it past the keeper. Arquin replaced Coulthirst on 79 minutes. The outstanding Whiteman nearly had a hat-trick on 81 minutes, when he intercepted a stray-pass from Sean Kavanagh, surged forward, and fired a tremendous shot which produced an equally tremendous one-handed save from the goalkeeper. On 83 minutes, MacDonald fired over from 22 yards. On 89 minutes, great play from Collins to win the ball and play it forward to Arquin, but Arquin was offside. On 90 minutes, Arquin headed down, to Green, who turned, powered forward and his shot was deflected wide. On 90+3 minutes, Arquin did well to get a cross in from the right, it hit Green and went wide. With that the referee blew the final whistle. A good team performance, very solid, and excellent in forward in patches. Job done. Man of the match: Ben Whiteman FURTHER REFLECTIONS (MY WEEKLY COLUMN FOR THE CHAD NEWSPAPER): Mansfield Town moved into the play-off places on Saturday with a 4-0 hammering of Hartlepool. The improvement in performances by the Stags since the turn of the year has been remarkable, with 6 wins and a draw in 7 games, and just one goal conceded, culminating in the biggest win of the season against 'Pool. The crowds are starting to return, there were 4,000 home fans on Saturday, helped by the great offers from John and Carolyn Radford of course of buying one ticket and getting one free, but also the word is going around that under Steve Evans the Stags are really playing some fine and entertaining football. There is a palpable buzz around the club and the atmosphere in the ground on a matchday has been wonderful in the past few games. A word must go to the groundstaff who did a great job getting the pitch in very good condition after a very cold couple of nights and a light snowfall overnight on Friday night. They had the pitch covers on, and then cleared the snow off the pitch covers before removing the covers themselves. The big scoreboard was also back working, and was hugely improved from a few weeks ago, with a better sized stopwatch and the score, plus relevant updates like the attendance, scorers etc. On the pitch, the Stags played very well in spells on Saturday and always looked comfortable, though also looked capable of going up a gear and in truth weren’t at their best throughout. Once again it was Ben Whiteman, on loan from Sheffield United, who stole the show with another fabulous performance. The Stags scored twice midway through the first half. Firstly, Hayden White and Shaq Coulthirst exchanged a series of passes on the right, before Coulthirst got to the byline, pulled back into the middle, and the ball came back to Whiteman who fired into the net from 12 yards. The second goal started with a great tackle by Mal Benning on former Stag Nathan Thomas to win the ball inside his own half. Benning pushed forward into the Hartlepool half, laid off to Danny Rose, who was dispossessed but immediately charged down Matthew Bates, the ball rebounded off Rose, towards the goalkeeper, but Rose got to the loose ball first, took it around the keeper and rolled into the empty net. Terrific from Benning, who is starting to get back to his best, and great pace and a clinical finish from Rose. With Hartlepool ineffective against a rock solid Stags defence, 2-0 looked comfortable, but the win was sealed with a fine goal from substitute Alex MacDonald on his home debut, just 5 minutes after coming on. A good ball from Benning put MacDonald away just inside the Hartlepool half, MacDonald moved forward and fired a low shot into the bottom left corner from 22 yards. A tremendous finish. Then Whiteman scored his second to make it 4-0. Matt Green laid off to the overlapping MacDonald, who stood up a delightful left footed cross, perfect for Whiteman to head downwards towards the goal. It took a deflection off a defender taking it past the keeper. The outstanding Whiteman nearly had a hat-trick when he intercepted a stray-pass from former Stags loanee Sean Kavanagh, surged forward, and fired a tremendous shot which produced an equally tremendous one-handed save from the goalkeeper. A great stat from Paul Taylor, that the first goal on Saturday was Mansfield’s 3000th football league goal at home. |
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Report by: Martin Shaw and Simon Chamberlain at the One Call Stadium, Field Mill
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Line Up:
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(4-4-2)
Kean 6 Had no shots to save. Came out of his area to head away and presented a chance to lob over him. Punched one cross away which he might have attempted to catch if the ball hadn’t been so wet. White 8 Very good game defensively. Good play going forward, including the build up to the 1st goal. Bennett 7.5 Generally defended very well. Mistake presented Amond with a chance to lob over Kean. Put a free header wide which he should have got on target. Pearce 7.5 Very solid. Admonished by Steve Evans for not clearing when he should have done. He held his hand up to Evans in apology and a few minutes later launched a clearance into the stand from a similar position. Benning 8 Terrific tackle to set up the 2nd goal. Nice ball to MacDonald for the 3rd goal. Defended very well. Whiteman 9 Outstanding. Two goals and only a wonderful save denied him a hat-trick Collins 8 Read the game well. Assured display. Byrom 7 Two good set pieces created headers for Bennett. But other set pieces were poor. MacDonald took over set pieces when he came on. Potter 6 Put two crosses behind for a goal-kick in the first half. Didn’t light the game up. Coulthirst 8 Great upper body strength which he used well. Put in a great shift. Good play in the build-up to the 1st goal. D.Rose 7.5 Great pace and clinical finish for his goal. Worked hard, won some good headers. |
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Sub Line Up:
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MacDonald (for Potter, 65 mins) - What an impact scoring a great goal within 6 minutes.
Green (for D.Rose, 70 mins) - One or two good pieces of play. Arquin (for Coulthirst, 79 mins) - Subs not used: Shearer, McGuire, Baxendale, Hamilton. |
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Opposition Line Up:
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(4-4-2): Bartlett; Donnelly (Richardson 46), Bates, Harrison, Kavanagh; Featherstone, Walker, Nelson, Thomas (Oates 75); Amond (Alessandra 58), Rooney. Subs Not Used: Fryer, Hawkins, Woods, Oates, Smith.
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Referee:
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Andrew Madley 7 Handled the game well. One good moment when he tried to play advantage and then pulled it back.
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