Season 22/23 Stagsnet Match Report
|
|
|
||
|
Mansfield Town
|
|
Stevenage
|
||
|
Gale 11.
|
|
|||
|
Attendance: 6,863 (384 from Stevenage)
|
||||
|
Date: 22 April 2023
|
||||
|
STAGS GRIND OUT WIN OVER STEVENAGE
Martin Shaw at the One Call Stadium, Field Mill Mansfield Town ground out a hugely important three points with a 1-0 win against Stevenage at the One Call Stadium yesterday. This was a game generally low on quality, but it was all about effort, heart and desire from the Stags players, with so many players still out through injury, roared on by the Stags fans to see them home. There were very few clearcut chances for either side. The only goal came after 11 minutes and there was a stroke of fortune about it. Callum Johnson cut inside his man from the right, and squared to Lucas Akins. Akins fired in a shot from 17 yards which hit Carl Piergianni on the arm. The referee immediately indicated no penalty. The ball came back to Akins, who squared for Davis Keillor-Dunn who took a touch and fired goalwards from the edge of the area. The shot took a deflection off James Gale, wrong-footing the keeper, as it rolled into the net. A bit of luck because without the deflection it probably wouldn’t have beaten the keeper. James Gale’s goal of course (with an assist for Keillor-Dunn) because it came off Gale last. His second league goal, and second in two games, both of which have been crucial. Unfortunately Gale had to go off injured after 21 minutes after colliding with the keeper and picking up a head injury. We’ll have to see if it is classed as concussion and rules him out of upcoming games. Every time Mansfield seem to get someone back from injury, someone else gets injured, it’s just incredible. He was at least replaced by Rhys Oates, who got through 70 minutes, and covered a lot of ground, having only been expected to play a lot fewer minutes than that. Stevenage relied heavily on set pieces, and even from free kicks from the half way line, threw their big centre halves forward to the edge of the box. But the Stags back line repelled them superbly, with Alfie Kilgour outstanding, heading everything away, and James Perch alongside him equally impressive. Stevenage should have been reduced to ten men after 5 seconds. Former Stag Danny Rose elbowed Elliott Hewitt on the touchline as Stevenage played the ball out there straight from the kick-off. From the main camera in the Bishop Street, the elbow is not so clear, but Matt the analyst showed me his footage from the West Stand at half time, which was crystal clear. How the linesman and 4th official missed it was incredible. The referee probably didn’t have a good view. Very few chances for either side in the first half, with the best, other than the goal, falling to another former Stag Jamie Reid whose shot from 20 yards was very well-saved by Christy Pym diving to his left. While Jordan Roberts headed straight at Pym from 12 yards. At the other end, Akins flicked over the bar from close range. Into the second half, and Max Clark headed straight at Pym from 8 yards after 49 minutes. After that, despite pumping a lot of balls into the Stags box, Stevenage didn’t create a single chance in the final 41 minutes plus 6 minutes of stoppage time. Mansfield meanwhile had a few chances, with Akins having a shot deflected wide, Keillor-Dunn cutting in and curling a shot just over the bar and onto the roof of the net from the corner of the area on the left. While Oates made some good runs but didn’t have his shooting boots on, firing well wide a couple of times. The Stags were hanging on at the end under a barrage of balls forward, but cleared everything away. And there was a great atmosphere from the home fans to really roar the team to victory. Stevenage are managed by former Stags boss Steve Evans of course. He has done a good job of getting his side to third place. He watched the game from the Director’s box and probably escaped being on the end of an even more hostile reception from the Stags fans by doing so, rather than being on the touchline. The win means Mansfield are unbeaten in 9 games: 4 wins and 5 draws. And 34 points from the last 18 games. Considering the terrible injury list for the last 4 months, that is a very good record. Salford picked up a remarkable 3-2 win at Walsall, to stay above Mansfield on goal difference (by one goal). But Mansfield have a game in hand. Bradford were held at home, with Oli Hawkins equalising after 90+7, so Mansfield are also level with Bradford on points, again with goal difference just one worse. Mansfield are at home to Leyton Orient on Tuesday. The ideal scenario for Mansfield was that Orient would be crowned Champions yesterday, but for that to happen, Orient had to win, and Stevenage had to lose or draw. Mansfield carried out their part of the bargain, and Orient won, so Orient will come into Tuesday having completed their aim of winning the league. Fully deserved as they have been out on top all season. That might make Mansfield’s task a little bit easier on Tuesday, but it will still be a very tough game of course. If Mansfield could pick up a win, and Stevenage were to lose at Swindon, then the Stags would be only one point behind 3rd place with two games left. Get to the game if you can, and it is now an all-ticket game. But if you can’t, you can watch it with us on iFollow Stags. DETAILED REPORT : Mansfield welcomed back Will Swan, Rhys Oates, George Maris and Louis Reed to the bench following injury. Andy Garner said post match that Swan, Maris and Reed “could all do 10 minutes” if needed, but in the end Swan “was not risked” and Reed also not brought on. Maris was brought on for 1 minute plus 6 of stoppage time. Oates got through 70 minutes, and covered a lot of ground, having only been expected to play a lot fewer minutes than that. McLaughlin (knee injury following ankle injury), Clarke (“out for a few weeks”, Clough said last week), Bowery (tight hamstring), Danny Johnson (tight hamstring), Hartigan & O’Toole (out for the season) remained out. After the game, we await news of the Gale head injury. Mansfield made one change from the team that started at Newport: Gale replaced the injured Bowery, as he had during the game at Newport and made that stunning impact. The Stags started with a 4-3-3 formation, with Gale (right) and Keillor-Dunn (left) either side of Akins. In midfield, Boateng (right), Quinn (left), were just in front of Wallace. Hewitt continued at left back, with Callum Johnson at right back, and Kilgour and Perch at centre half. Stevenage brought in Jake Reeves and Michael Bostwick, in place of Jake Forster-Caskey and Jake Taylor, who dropped to the bench. Former Stags strikers Danny Rose and Jamie Reid were up front. Carl Piergianni, who Mansfield were about to sign from Oldham before manager Keith Curle changed his mind, and who has had a fantastic season, was at centre half alongside Dan Sweeney brother of former Stag Ryan Sweeney. 16 year old striker Makise Evans, who has just been on loan at Potters Bar and scored goals, was on the bench and came on for his debut near the end. Stevenage were without the injured strikers Luke Norris, Josh March and Elliott List. Stevenage had lost only 1 of their previous 8 games, including winning their last 2, both at home, and drawn at Carlisle and Northampton in that run of 8 games. They had however only won once away since October, at AFC Wimbledon in February. They had drawn a lot of away games (11 of their 20 away games before yesterday). Before the game, it was good to spend some time with Wayne Corden who was at the game. Corden was a magnificent and exciting player for the club 20 years ago. He scored plenty of fabulous goals (you’ll find a lot of them on the club youtube page from the Covid lockdown period) and he scored one of the goals when the Stags beat Carlisle 2-0 to gain promotion in 2002. Coincidentally the other scorer that day, Andy White, was also at the game. He is now a regular in the press box, commentating for BBC Radio Nottingham. Stevenage should have been reduced to ten men after 5 seconds. Former Stag Danny Rose elbowed Elliott Hewitt on the touchline as Stevenage played the ball out there straight from the kick-off. From the main camera in the Bishop Street, the elbow is not so clear, but Matt the analyst showed me his footage from the West Stand at half time, which was crystal clear. How the linesman and 4th official missed it was incredible. The referee probably didn’t have a good view. After 5 minutes, Stevenage had the ball in the Stags box. A 70 yard free kick was pumped into the Stags box by the keeper, Piergianni flicked on, and Jordan Roberts was about to shoot but Perch and then Callum Johnson got vital touches to prevent a shot. The only goal of the game came after 11 minutes and there was a stroke of fortune about it. Callum Johnson cut inside his man from the right, and squared to Lucas Akins. Akins fired in a shot from 17 yards which hit Carl Piergianni on the arm. The referee immediately indicated no penalty. The ball came back to Akins, who squared for Davis Keillor-Dunn who took a touch and fired goalwards from the edge of the area. The shot took a deflection off James Gale, wrong-footing the keeper, as it rolled into the net. A bit of luck because without the deflection it probably wouldn’t have beaten the keeper. James Gale’s goal of course (with an assist for Keillor-Dunn) because it came off Gale last. His second league goal, and second in two games, both of which have been crucial. Gale was booked for a late tackle on Alex Gilbey after 13 minutes. A minute later, Gale committed another foul. Not a bookable offence but he’d have to be careful. After 16 minutes, Akins found Boateng who got past one man and sent a shot high over the bar. Gale had to go off injured after 21 minutes after colliding with the keeper and picking up a head injury. We’ll have to see if it is classed as concussion and rules him out of upcoming games. There was no update from Andy Garner in the post match interview. I did speak to Gale post match and asked him if he felt ok now, which he said he did. Gale was replaced by Rhys Oates. I didn’t write anything in my notes from 21 to 38 minutes! Luther Wildin hurled a long throw into the Stags box after 38 minutes, which was headed on by Pierganni, and Sweeney headed over the bar. Stevenage’s first shot of the game. Pym punched away a free kick after 40 minutes. A blatant foul on Akins after 43 minutes. The referee waved it away as a shoulder barge. After 45 minutes, Piergianni launched a long ball forward, Danny Rose chested down, and Jamie Reid shot from 20 yards which was very well-saved by Christy Pym diving to his left. After 45+3 minutes, Wildin crossed from the right and Jordan Roberts was left in space in the middle by Perch but could only head straight at Pym from 12 yards. A minute later at the other end, Quinn hooked a good cross in from the left, and Akins flicked over the bar from close range. The Stags ahead at the break. Not many chances for either side. Half time 1-0 After 49 minutes, Max Clark headed straight at Pym from 8 yards. It was the last chance Stevenage were to create, despite pumping a lot of balls into the Stags box. On 50 minutes, Akins turned on the edge of the box and his shot was blocked. Oates was booked for kicking the ball away after 52 minutes. Harsh as the ball was only just out of play as he kicked it. It happened after Sweeney had been booked earlier for booting the ball away several seconds after the whistle had gone. Paul Rayner put pressure on the referee to book Oates. Rayner, by the way, was booked later for continued protesting. After 59 minutes, a great move from the Stags as Hewitt headed the ball away, to Quinn, then Keillor-Dunn, and Boateng, out to Oates on the right touchline, then Callum Johnson, to Boateng again, then Oates got to the byline, his low ball in to the middle found Akins who played a 1-2 with Boateng to create a yard of space for Akins, and his shot from 14 yards was deflected wide. The best move of the game by some distance. From the resulting corner taken by Keillor-Dunn, Oates got above Roberts to head over the bar. Wallace was blocked off by the referee allowing Stevenage to break but the move petered out. If the ball had hit the referee he would certainly have stopped play, but common sense would have suggested he should stop play here too. Danny Rose was replaced by Jake Taylor for Stevenage after 63 minutes. After 65 minutes, Keillor-Dunn played out to Oates on the right, Oates cut inside along the edge of the area, but his shot was blocked. Four minutes later, Keillor-Dunn cut in from the left and curled a shot just over the bar and onto the roof of the net from the corner of the area. That was close. Law replaced Quinn after 71 minutes. Quinn had played two 90 minutes and now 71 minutes in a week. A great run down the left by Oates after 83 minutes, steaming past Sweeney, into the area, but he didn’t have the finish to match from an angle on the left and fired well over the bar. A minute later, Keillor-Dunn controlled the ball beautifully on the halfway line and with the keeper off his line, tried to shoot, but didn’t get enough on it and it was an easy save for the keeper in his area. Then another good run from Oates, who got past Piergianni, but was well-tackled by Sweeney. On 88 minutes, Akins, now playing in a deep role, did well to win the ball, and Boateng sent Oates away on another run, he did well to get into the area on the left, but blasted wide again. Mansfield made their final changes after 89 minutes with Harbottle replacing the exhausted Oates, and Maris on for Keillor-Dunn. Harbottle went up front on his own. A slightly strange decision, however the management didn’t want to risk Swan, Reed wasn’t an option to go up front, and Clough would have wanted another player who could defend from set pieces as needed, but no disrupt a defence that was playing superbly. That said, the experiment wasn’t a great success in terms of Harbottle holding the ball up front and Nigel Clough joked with me afterwards that he probably wouldn’t be putting Harbottle up front again! The Stags were hanging on at the end under a barrage of balls forward, but cleared everything away. Six minutes of stoppage time were added on, and it didn’t help that a blatant foul on Pym was waved away, but the Stags were able to clear. There was a great atmosphere from the home fans to really roar the team to victory in those closing stages, and there was relief and celebration at full time. A great result. On to Tuesday. It’s an exciting end to the season! After the game, Andy Garner summed up the game: "People like Perchy and Quinny, I don't know what to say. The effort and the age that they're at, they're absolutely fantastic professionals. "It wasn't all about the football side today. We tried, don't get me wrong, but when you're running on low, it's not easy playing nice football. Also the pitch, we couldn't get any water on the pitch. It's a big difference when the pitch is dry, rather than getting some water on it so we can pass it around a bit. So today it had to be the other side of it for getting the three points.” Man of the match: Alfie Kilgour Here’s a running tally of various stats this season: Goals (league and cup): Akins 9, Swan 9, Lapslie 7, Clarke 5, Harbottle 5, Hawkins 5, Keillor-Dunn 5, Maris 5, Oates 5, Bowery 4, Kilgour 4, Boateng 3, Gale 3, Quinn 2, Gordon 1, D.Johnson 1, Hewitt 1, McLaughlin 1. 1 OG Assists (league and cup): Hewitt 8, Lapslie 8, Quinn 8, Akins 7, Maris 5, Boateng 4, Gordon 4, Keillor-Dunn 4, McLaughlin 3, Bowery 2, Clarke 2, C.Johnson 2, Hartigan 2, Oates 2, Flinders 1, Hawkins 1, Law 1, Perch 1, Wallace 1 (notes on assists: in the case of a penalty, the player who earns the penalty gets an assist, such as Lapslie against AFC Wimbledon. In the case of a solo goal, such as Maris against Newport at home last season, nobody gets an assist. In the case of the scorer scoring from the rebound after a shot is saved or blocked, the player who had the shot saved gets an assist, such as Lapslie against Stockport. In the case of an own goal, the player who caused the own goal gets an assist, for example McLaughlin against Newport away last season where his shot was deflected in for an own goal. In the case of a cross that is headed away before the goal is scored, such as Clarke’s goal at Doncaster, nobody gets an assist.) Yellow cards (league only, alphabetical order): Boateng 1, Bowery 2, Clarke 8, Gale 2, Harbottle 6, Hartigan 1, Hawkins 4, Hewitt 3, Keillor-Dunn 2, D.Johnson 1, Lapslie 3, Law 3, Maris 5, McLaughlin 2, O’Toole 5, Oates 2, Perch 7, Pym 3, Quinn 9, Reed 1, Swan 2, Wallace 6. Red cards (league and cup): Boateng 1, Bowery 1, Maris 1, Perch, Quinn 1. (note: red cards count across competitions apart from Papa John’s Trophy; yellow cards are competition specific) (note: 5 yellow cards before the end of the 19th league game will result in a one match ban; 10 yellow cards before the end of the 37th league game will result in a two match ban; 15 yellow cards before the end of the 46th league game will result in a three match ban) Average home league attendance: 6659 (average away fans: 533, average home fans 6126) (see Tranmere report for explanation of how attendance is calculated: it is essentially tickets sold, including season tickets) |
||||
|
Report by: Martin Shaw at the One Call Stadium, Field Mill
|
||||
|
Line Up:
|
(4-3-3)
Pym 8 Very good save from Reid’s shot just before half time, and a couple of regulation saves. C.Johnson 8 Defended well. His best game since returning from injury. Kilgour 9 Outstanding, heading everything away. Perch 8.5 Very impressive alongside Kilgour. Andy Garner said after the game: "People like Perchy and Quinny, I don't know what to say. The effort and the age that they're at, they're absolutely fantastic professionals.” Hewitt 7.5 Continues to look solid filling in at left back. Boateng 7 Decent game. Wallace 8.5 Terrific game in front of the back four. Quinn 8.5 Did well going forward, and defensively. He played two 90 minutes and now 71 minutes in a week. Andy Garner said after the game: "People like Perchy and Quinny, I don't know what to say. The effort and the age that they're at, they're absolutely fantastic professionals.” Gale - Scored his second league goal, and second in two games, both of which have been crucial. Albeit this one was a little fortunate. Had to go off injured after 21 minutes. Akins 8 Very good game, holding the ball up. Late on moved to a deeper role and did very well. Keillor-Dunn 7.5 His shot was deflected in for the goal. Curled another shot onto the roof of the net. |
|
Sub Line Up:
|
Oates (for Gale, 21 mins) 8 Great effort getting through 70 minutes when he was only expected to play far fewer minutes than that. Made some great runs but didn’t have his shooting boots on.
Law (for Quinn, 71 mins) - Did well. Harbottle (for Oates, 89 mins) - The experiment putting him up front wasn’t a great success, in terms of him holding the ball up front, and Nigel Clough joked with me afterwards that he probably wouldn’t be putting Harbottle up front again! Maris (for Keillor-Dunn, 89 mins) - Good to see him back, even for a few minutes. Subs not used: Flinders, Reed, Swan. |
|
Opposition Line Up:
|
(4-1-3-2): Lo-Tutala; Wildin (Evans 87), Piergianni, Sweeney, Clark; Bostwick (Forster-Caskey 46); Gilbey (Horgan 74), Reeves, Roberts; Reid, Rose (Taylor 63). Subs not used: Pryzbek, Smith, Tomkinson.
|
|
Referee:
|
James Linington 4 Championship referee who didn’t have a great game. The officials should have sent Danny Rose off after 5 seconds. Andy Garner summed it up post match: “I thought the officials were extremely poor today. I don't think they gave us a lot at all and that challenge on Pymy (in stoppage time) summed it up. It was a blatant foul.”
|
|
|