MUD & TEARS

Mansfield Knocked Out In Group Stages

The Land Ut Gods! In truth it was more like ‘The Land Ut Frogs!’ We are not talking of the garlic eating kind, more the marshy, water living variety because from the moment the side arrived in Huddersfield until the muddy kit was packed away, it poured down and made the two pitches totally unplayable.

One or two expressed concern about the amount of standing water on the pitches before hand, come the end of the day the standing water had disappeared and the pitches had turned into nothing other than two giant mud baths.

In the end the tournament was decided by a toss of a coin, Everton the eventual winners. The decision didn’t please everyone, but was the right choice to make as the pitches were totally unplayable and were indeed dangerous.

The day had started brightly enough for the side of Stags supporters, although there were a few players missing due to injury and one due to training for a charity walk in Jordan (Best wishes to Dave Cross for that!), it was felt that the squad was strong enough to do the amber shirts justice and they certainly did that against a strong looking Everton side, drawing 0-0 in their opening group D game.

The starting line up against Everton was, Sankey in goal, Holmes at left back, Martin at right back and Latkowski and Wheatman at centre half. In the centre of midfield the impressive James Brown and James Bird, to the left, Captain, Wayne Sharpe, to the right, Craig Ploughman and up front, Baxter and the livewire, Gary Bird. The bench was also strong and full of talent in Drew Stokes, Michael Scothron, Phill Waddington and Conor Tyldsley.

The game started with an Everton onslaught and for the first five or so minutes, the Mansfield side struggled to get out of their half, however once the side settled they began to ask questions of the Everton back line and through James Brown, were stamping their authority in Midfield. As the half drew to an end, a fine move down the right involving Martin and Ploughman saw a great chance for Gary Bird, however the Everton keeper pulled off a decent save and the chance was gone.

In the 2^nd half Everton forced pressure and Latkowski was on hand to clear a certain goal-bound effort off the line after the original shot had suck in the mud in the goalmouth.  The Mansfield side responded looking to use the speed of Gary Bird to get behind the Scouse defence, but in the end, both sides had to settle for a share of the spoils, despite Everton hitting a post late on and James Brown going close with a couple of long range free kicks.

Afterwards thinking of how the game went the opinion settled on that although the side had had plenty of possession, Everton had created the better goalscoring opportunities and that a draw was the right result. As the experienced, Dave Baxter explained,

“A point on the board is a good start.”

The weather was getting worse and so were the pitches as strong favourites, Bury lost to Sheffield United. The conditions were indeed a leveller as all hopes of good passing football disappeared deep into the mud.

The 2^nd game came around and several changes had to be made due to slight knocks. Holmes, James Bird, and Ploughman choosing to begin on the bench for Scothron, Tyldsley and Stokes.

The Mansfield side were by far the better of the two sides in the first half and at half time the general opinion was that it would only be a matter of time before the side would score. However, Coventry came out in the 2^nd half looking to get the ball up front as fast as possible and their pressure caused one or two problems for the defence but Nick Sankey was on top form tipping a 20 yard drive onto the crossbar in the save of the day.

With five minutes to go, and with Coventry in the ascendancy, the Mansfield side conceded. Three successive corners finally resulted in Sky Blues scoring with a far post header. It was disappointing to let in a goal that would mean that progression through the group would have to depend on a Coventry victory over Everton by more than two goals.

The Stags side went in search of a late equaliser but City held on in desperation and were happy when the referee finally blew the full time whistle.

There was obvious disappointment and the feeling in the camp was that the side had let a victory slip away. Coventry had had a good five minutes during the game and unfortunately had scored, whereas like the game against Everton, sexy football had not got the Stags side to first base.

The rain was now pouring down heavily as a huddled bunch of muddy and soaked amber shirts squelched up and down the touchline in a bizarre change of supporting elegance as cries of “Come on Coventry!” urged on the Sky Blues side to what was hoped would be a victory over Everton. But, despite creating the best opportunities Coventry failed to break down their Premiership opposition and the final score of 0-0 meant early elimination for the side from Mansfield.

At this point a trip to the pub across the road was called for as there was just over an hour and a half before the plate game against Tranmere Rovers.

During this time, the rain came down even heavier causing concerns over whether or not the rest of the tournament could take place. In the end, a penalty competition between Mansfield and Tranmere Rovers was decided upon, the losers of which would contest the wooden spoon final against either Grimsby Town or Huddersfield.

With the penalty spot hardly visible both sides lined up, both desperate to win to have the chance of getting changed and heading for home. James Bird took the first of the Mansfield spot-kicks but saw his effort saved. However the Referee adjudged that the Tranmere keeper had moved before the kick was taken and so ordered it took again. This time Bird made no mistake.

Sankey went close to saving two of the penalties from Tranmere, and should have really saved the third, letting the ball slip under his body. In the meantime, Martin Clark, Jamie Wheatman and Conor Tyldsley all slotted away their kicks with confidence for Mansfield, leaving both sides on four kicks each successfully put away. Up stepped James Brown to slot in Mansfield’s 5^th leaving Nick Sankey the chance of becoming the hero, which he did with a fine two handed save. Final score Mansfield Town 5 Tranmere Rovers 4. Mansfield although knocked out in the group stages were not going to finish bottom of the twelve.

As it turned out, it was decided that the pitches were now totally unplayable, and so, much to the annoyance of several teams, the semi final and final were decided upon by the toss of a coin. The eventual winners, Everton.

Looking back on the whole day, perhaps the tournament should have been called off and rearranged for another day, but tournaments like these take a lot of organising and Phill and all of the people involved with the net-Terriers deserve a big pat on the back for at least getting things so well sorted, the only shame was that they could do nothing about the weather. Still it was all for charity and despite going out early, getting soaking wet, and being covered head to foot in Yorkshire mud, most if not all from Mansfield enjoyed the day.

Player of the Tournament - Nick Sankey