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Archived News from October 2015

MURRAY, LAMBE, ADAMS, PAUL STURROCK REACTION
26th October 2015 21:16



Murray: That was for Mal
mansfieldtown.net, 20th October 2015

Stags’ boss Adam Murray dedicated tonight’s last-gasp 1-0 win over Yeovil Town to injured defender Mal Benning.

Murray revealed prior to kick-off at Huish Park that Benning would be out for ‘a long period of time’ after sustaining a knee injury in the 2-1 defeat to Bristol Rovers on Saturday.

The game was heading for a stalemate in Somerset before Reggie Lambe popped up with his first goal of the season to head home the only goal of the game deep into injury-time.

Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/murray-that-was-for-mal-2755163.aspx#sR1mhHv1HzfymR6y.99

The gaffer described how his close-knit squad all wanted to ‘do it for Mal’ tonight, and Murray was delighted to be able to do just that.

“When I spoke before the game about Mal Benning, and I know I speak a lot about this group being like a family, it feels like we’ve lost a member of the family. We spoke before the game and said that we wanted to do it for Mal.

“So that was for Mal today. He’s only been here a few months but the dedication and commitment he’s put in to the football club [has been excellent],” Murray continued.

“That win’s not just for the three points today, that meant more than the three points.”

Although Murray dedicated the win to his injured full-back, he also outlined a number of other factors which were critical to his side’s success.

“That was for the fans, thank you for travelling. We sat on the coach for five hours yesterday, so we know what a journey it is, we owe them one massively, thank you for the support tonight.

“We did it for Mal, we took the frustration out from Saturday and we also did it for the football club.

“[The] chairman and Paul Broughton (Stadium director), they backed me on the decision to come down last night. I know people say it’s a little thing but it does make a difference and when we’re still going in the
90-odd minute there and we score, they’re the ‘one percents’,” Murray said.

“Good teams, they grind results out and that’s a massive win for us.”

Murray was keen to praise second-half substitute Matty Blair, who made only his second appearance of the season tonight after returning from a long-term injury lay-off.

“Matt Blair was excellent today. All the time he’s been out, we’ve been gagging to get him back in but because we’ve been winning, we haven’t had to force his comeback, but I thought he made the difference today. He came on and changed the game.”

The boss was delighted for tonight’s match-winner, Reggie Lambe, who he says is reaping the rewards of his hard work.

“I’m over the moon for Reggie (Lambe). He’s one of these that goes under the radar, but his discipline and work rate on shape is excellent and technically, he’s getting stronger on the ball.

“He deserved that goal, not just for his performance tonight, but for his performances all season.”

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BBC Nottingham Sport @BBCRNS
Murray: "It was smash and grab, we weren't at our best tonight." #stags
Adam Murray on Blair Adams: "One of the best debuts I've seen. I've no doubt that he is going to be a top player for us" #stags #notts

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Blair Adams praised by boss Adam Murray
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34603407

Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray has praised Blair Adams for the immediate impact he has made since arriving on loan from Notts County.
Full-back Adams, 24, was signed after Mal Benning suffered a knee injury, and he impressed on his debut at Yeovil.
"He was absolutely different class. It was one of the best debuts I've seen," Murray told BBC Radio Nottingham.
"We needed him to come in and collect Mal's mantle. I've got no doubt Blair will be a top player for this club."
Benning, 21, faces a long spell on the sidelines after sustaining cruciate ligament damage during the recent defeat by Bristol Rovers.
"We've reassured Mal that he's going to be at the club for a long time," said Murray, whose side are fourth in the League Two table following an excellent start to the season.
"We want Mal involved with what we're doing, because he's been fantastic not just as a player but also as a person."

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Stags' duo pleased with away victory
mansfieldtown.net, 20th October 2015

Mansfield Town duo Reggie Lambe and Blair Adams were delighted with the way that the Stags took all three points against Yeovil Town this evening.

Lambe scored a late header to ensure the Stags returned to One Call Stadium with a win whilst Adams made his debut for the club after joining on loan from Notts County.

Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/stags-duo-pleased-with-away-victory-2755404.aspx#qQoDGubx4wyCX3k2.99

The Bermudan winger was thrilled to get his first goal of the season and hopes he can push on from here for the rest of the campaign.

“It’s a great moment to get my first goal of the season and get the three points for the team.

“[I thought] just try to get it on target and make sure the ‘keeper can’t save it. Especially because I missed a chance before I was determined to score before the game was up.

The match-winner said that the squad is enjoying the winner in the aftermath of the game, but everyone will soon be focussed on Saturday’s trip to Portsmouth.

“[In the] the fashion that we won, everyone’s ecstatic. We’re still fourth and we wanted to be in the top three today but that didn’t happen so we go again on Saturday.”

Left-back Adams, who was brought in by Adam Murray following the injury to Mal Benning at the weekend, said he enjoyed his debut for the Stags and is looking forward to the future.

“I really enjoyed it, it’s great to be back playing on the pitch. I’ve had a frustrating couple of months- I’ve not been playing at all- so I enjoyed getting a taste of League Two again.

“It was a hectic game but I was pleased we came away with the three points.”

Adams slotted straight in to the Stags’ side this evening and he says he has been made welcome by the rest of the Stags’ squad.

“They’re all chatty lads and before the game, the enthusiasm and spirit was evident and it’s great to be part of.

“I’ve been training with the reserves at Notts County but to be fair, I have to give credit to Rich Dryden there because he’s kept me motivated and in good shape and that’s helped [me] today.”

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Blair Adams pleased to be playing first-team football again with Mansfield Town
Nottingham Post

Blair Adams says it is "great to be part of" the Mansfield Town squad after enduring a difficult time of things at Notts County.

The left-back joined on a one-month loan on Tuesday and went straight into the Stags' starting XI for the game at Yeovil Town, which they won late into injury time thanks to Reggie Lambe's goal in a 1-0 victory.

Read more: http://www.nottinghampost.com/Blair-Adams-pleased-playing-team-football/story-28036476-detail/story.html#ixzz3pNOXkK9Z

The 24-year-old had been a regular in the back four with the Magpies since signing back in the summer of 2014, but that changed this season as he found himself out of favour under boss Ricardo Moniz.

"I really enjoyed it (my debut)," Adams said. "It's great to be back playing on the pitch. I've had a frustrating couple of months - I've not been playing at all - so I enjoyed getting a taste of League Two again.

"It was a hectic game but I was pleased we came away with the three points.

"They're all chatty lads (the Mansfield players) and before the game the enthusiasm and spirit was evident and it's great to be part of.

"I've been training with the reserves at Notts County but to be fair, I have to give credit to Rich Dryden there because he's kept me motivated and in good shape and that's helped."

Adams was brought in by manager Adam Murray because of an injury to left-back Mal Benning, who will be out of action for "a long period of time".

The former Walsall man collided with Brian Jensen towards the end of last Saturday's 2-1 defeat to Bristol Rovers and suffered cruciate damage.

"Mal was obviously gutted (when he got the news of his injury), we were all gutted but we'll rally round him and he knows we'll look after him," said Murray.

"It took us a little bit of time to get going on Tuesday, it was a very disjointed 72 hours as we were trying to get someone in to cover Mal and trying to prepare for the game and travelling down there (to Yeovil).

"But we came away with the three points which is all that we ultimately care about."

Meanwhile, Mansfield Town duo Conor Green and Danny Fletcher have both extended their loan deals at Carlton Town.

The pair spent the first two months of the season at the Millers and have now extended their spell at the club for the next month.

Both players have enjoyed a run in the Evo-Stik First Division South team, racking up over 20 appearances between them this season and they will be looking to further their experience in the following weeks.

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twitter

Reggie Lambe @ReggieNaldo
Glad to get my first goal of the season!!!!! And big up to man like @nahkiwells

JAMIE MCGUIRE @JAMIEMCGUIRE23
That win was for you @Mal_1993 all the boys are behind you @mansfieldtownfc #alltogether

Richard Cooper @coops0927
On behalf of all the staff & players we dedicate tonight's victory to @Mal_1993. Stay strong Mal #together

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Paul Sturrock Speaks To BBC Somerset After The 0-1 Defeat Against Mansfield
http://www.ciderspace.co.uk/ASP/features/interview.asp?InterviewId=1631

Yeovil Town manager Paul Sturrock spoke to local journalist Chris Spittles, in an interview for BBC Somerset, after his side had lost 1-0 against Mansfield Town on Tuesday 20th October 2015.

CS: Paul, as defeats go, that must be one of the hardest ones to take - the tenth minute of stoppage time when they scored.

PS: The players are a bit down obviously. They worked hard today - very hard. To be fair, I didn't think we were that out of sorts with our positioning. But scoring goals is what it's all about, and that's something that we haven't done on a regular occurrence. At the end of the day it would have been nice to have taken a point. I think we may have had a point, but football has a way of kicking you up the bum when you're down.

CS: How frustrated are you that it's the tenth minute of stoppage time when Reggie Lambe popped up with the winner?

PS: Arthurworrey goes off injured and he's part of the catalogue of injuries followed by the next injury, then you can't legislate for that. I thought the back four played very well and were very solid for most of the game, but then obviously a cross comes into the box and it lands on somebody's head. There's not any words that can adequately explain how everybody feels at the moment.

CS: You mentioned the fact that your side didn't score tonight, yet you went two up front. On the face of it that was more positive. But what can you do to try to get more goals from this team?

PS: I've got one more loan and that's an area that we're going to have to strengthen. I think for everyone that is glaringly obvious. We're asking for a lot of pressure on players coming back, for the Comptons and Dawsons, who are very positive players - even Omar Sowunmi to be fair has been missed, as far as his prescence has been concerned. So I'm going to look for a forward in the next couple of days and hopefully have a man for Saturday.

CS: Is any one of those injured players likely to be back by the weekend?

PS: No.

CS: The situation now, with losing tonight, and with Dagenham picking up a point, how big is Saturday? You called it two cup finals, so how big is Saturday now?

PS: The important thing is not so much Dagenham now, as Dagenham (and Newport) are all on equal points now. It's about getting the two wins on the bounce that kick-starts your season. We're playing Cambridge which is another difficult game again, but I'm glad that they're coming thick and fast. We'll dust ourselves down - we can only look forward now - there's no point in looking backwards. I think that if we look backwards then the confidence will just seep out of the team. We've got to rest a few and get ready for Saturday.

CS: You're obviously an experienced manager. You must have had situations like this in the past. What's the key to turning this around?

PS: Get healthy; get a couple of results under our belts. I think that's the key to it all. We'll move some of the players on, and try to get some new players during the window, and bite and scratch until we do get the players back healthy, and try to pick up as many points as possible.

CS: How important is it to turn this around quickly. What are the owners saying to you?

PS: Well at the end of the day, obviously the more defeats that you have, the more teams that distance themselves from you. We don't want that happening. If it's going to be a rate race down at the bottom then we want six or seven other teams to be in that fight. Three points would be invaluable for us at this minute in time. So we've got a game at home on Saturday to try to get that.

CS: With it being a home game, you spoke before the game about engaging the fans and getting the fans back. The crowd dropped below 3,000 tonight. How important is it to give these home fans something to grasp onto?

PS: Well we don't come out here to lose. I think everyone has seen that they've given everything that they've got. Saying that, some of them are a bit disappointed with their performances tonight. But as a team and as a unit, I thought we were very solid and well organised. It's just the icing on the cake - if all of a sudden the Dawsons, the Comptons and the Sowunmis and whoever we're bringing in, and we can then get a settled team on the football pitch. With a healthy team on the football pitch, I'm confident that we will turn results around. But the more times that we get kicked in the teeth like tonight, then it does erode confidence.

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