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Archived News from October 2004

CURLE AND ALEXANDER REACTION
2nd October 2004 21:20


CURLE HAILS FIGHTING STAGS
Evening Post website

Mansfield manager Keith Curle hailed his side's fighting spirit as they came from behind to claim a 2-2 draw at home to Lincoln.

A first senior goal for Alex Baptiste earned the Stags a point after they had been outplayed for much of the first half and Curle was satisfied with the outcome.

He said: "If you give any team a two-goal start it will be difficult. The pleasing thing was we stuck to our task.

"You get what you deserve in this game and we had to earn the right to play.

"We knew Lincoln would be an aerial threat from the personnel in their team and they punished us for slack defending with their first goal. Then a basic midfield mistake led to their second, which was a great finish.

"Lincoln will probably be very disappointed with the goals they conceded given the aerial strength they have in the penalty area. But credit to them. Lincoln stood their ground for the rest of the game.

"However, we scored our goals at the right time and Adam Murray's goal gave us a foothold in the game. Once we scored our second goal I thought there would only be one winner."

Lincoln manager Keith Alexander, a former player and assistant manager at Field Mill, said: "This is a difficult place to come to and I thought we played very well for an hour but conceded a goal at the wrong time.

"But I won't be too critical as Mansfield have put four goals past teams like Yeovil so this is an excellent point.

"We battled well, got back to doing the basics and with a bit of luck we could have won. The players worked really hard and we need to keep building on this unbeaten run.

"I felt Mansfield's first goal was a sloppy one to concede as I thought a great finish from Simon Yeo which put us 2-0 up had killed the game off.

"But after they scored we knew we would come under the cosh in the second half and I thought we defended very well."
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Stags 2 Imps 2 - Keith Speaks

redimps.com

City boss Keith Alexander has been giving us his thoughts following the Imps' 2-2 draw with Mansfield Town at Field Mill on Saturday afternoon.

Here's what he had to say about...

... the performance

"I'm disappointed we've only got a point having been two up but we would have taken a point at the start of play as these are difficult places to come.

"I felt we played very well for an hour. We gave them a goal just at the wrong time but I'm not going to be too critical today. It's an excellent point as it's a difficult place to come.

"We battled well and got back to doing the basics and, with a bit of luck, we might have won it. We're probably having as much bad luck as Boston are having good luck! But that happens at times. I'm not going to be disappointed with the players as they've worked very hard, come to a very difficult place, and got an excellent point. We're five unbeaten and we'll keep building upon it."

... Gareth McAuley, whose first goal in City colours gave the Imps the lead

"He's been outstanding and he's a good footballer. He heads it, he clears it, he's got good feet, he can pass it and he scores a goal. He's an outstanding footballer and was excellent for us today."

... Simon Yeo's excellent finish, which put the Imps two up

"Sometimes you've got to be able to place those balls. Simon's one of these who blasts everything but he's placed this one in the top corner and he took it very well. We were well worthy of our 2-0 lead at that time.

"They got one back just before half-time so we knew we were going to be under the cosh. But we weathered the storm very well."

... extending the unbeaten run to five matches

"Of course we're disappointed to be in 17th place and in the last couple of seasons we've been used to being better than that. But we're on a little bit of a run, we're five unbeaten, and we've only got to take it on from there.

"We're not up in the top half of the table but it's a long season. We've come with late runs before and we know what it takes to get into the play-off positions. That's our aim and I'll not be looking at anything until we get into the last couple of months of the season because if we string a few wins together we're right back in there."

... the 1,000+ travelling supporters

"We've had tremendous support again and they got behind the team as normal. I think we've given them a decent performance."


 

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