Archived News from April 2007
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DEARDEN: NO CONTRACT TALKS FOR HIM TO STAY YET
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Stags' injury crisis biting hard
CHAD website, 11 April 2007 MANSFIELD Town's injury crisis this week deepened ahead of Saturday's visit of Rochdale (3pm). Billy Dearden already had five key players missing as his threadbare side lost both games over Easter. And, after the misery of Saturday's 1-0 home defeat against Bristol Rovers on Saturday, Dearden lost two more players by half-time in Monday's 2-0 loss at Peterborough United. Asa Charlton (knee) and Simon Brown (hamstring) are the latest victims, both battling on until the break. But, with only Stephen Dawson (hamstring) with a decent chance of recovery by the weekend, Stags will still be badly depleted for the visit of Rochdale as they bid to avoid a fourth successive home defeat. GIles Coke (knee long term), Jake Buxton (knee operation), Jon D'Laryea (ankle operation), and Jon Olav Hjelde (calf) will all struggle to play again this season. They were booed off for the third time in a row at home last Saturday and manager Dearden said: "I am going to have to wrap everyone else up in cotton wool this week. "We are hopeful we might get Stephen Dawson back for next weekend but everyone else looks a doubt. "If he's fit he's straight back into the team. "I doubt we can fit everyone into the treatment room right now but there's nothing we can do about it. "We are back at Field Mill on Saturday and we have to put the same effort in there that we did at Peterborough on Monday. "I am disappointed with our home form just now. We seem to have gone into our shells. We need to battle." Dearden said he would consider bringing back the inexperienced young defender Chris Wood from his loan spell at Ilkeston Town to make up the numbers if necessary. It is a sad end to what had been a bright second half to the season for Stags as they battled away from relegation to flirt with the idea of scraping into the Play-offs only to suffer injury after injury and slide down to 18th with only four matches to go after a six-match winless streak. A 2-0 home defeat by Barnet on Monday has left Rochdale's outside Play-off hopes looking like a mountain to climb. They are 13th, seven ponts adrift with four to play. Manager Billy Dearden told Chad on Monday that there had still been no start to contract talks for him to stay as boss next season. Advance tickets for Mansfield's game at promotion-chasing Swindon on Saturday, 21st April are available on 0870 4431894 and will save fans £2 on the matchday price. Adult tickets are £18 advance, £20 on the day, junior tickets are £7 advance, £9 on the day and OAP/student tickets are £13 advance. OAP tickets are £15 on the day but no student tickets are available on the day. |
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