Archived News from February 2021
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BOLTON GAME POSTPONED AGAIN, WATERLOGGED PITCH
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Mansfield v Bolton postponed
mansfieldtown.net, Tue 2 Feb 2021, 5.30pm Mansfield Town’s Sky Bet League Two encounter at home to Bolton Wanderers, scheduled for this evening, has been postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. The Stags’ groundstaff had been working tirelessly on the field of play since 8am this morning, but heavy rainfall in the last few hours has led to the game’s postponement. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2021/february/mansfield-v-bolton-postponed/ A new date for the fixture will be announced in due course. ------------------------
--------------------- Mansfield v Bolton is Postponed...Again! February 02 2021, By Chris Mann https://www.burndenaces.co.uk/2021/02/02/mansfield-v-bolton-is-postponedagain.html Bolton's Sky Bet League Two fixture at Mansfield Town has been postponed for the second time in a week, this time due to a waterlogged pitch. Wanderers were originally due to face the Stags last Tuesday but frosty conditions throughout the country meant the game was called off early in the afternoon after officials deemed the playing surface too dangerous. With no fans in attendance, the EFL promptly rearranged the match. However, overnight snowfall and heavy rain during the day gave referee Sebastian Stockbridge little option but to postpone the meeting yet again - this time just 90 minutes before kick-off. -------------------- Manager shares thoughts on Bolton postponement mansfieldtown.net, Tue 2 Feb 2021 Boss Nigel Clough says that ‘everyone is disappointed and frustrated’ with this evening’s postponement, but that the Stags did ‘everything they could’ to get the game on. Mansfield were due to face Bolton Wanderers at One Call Stadium this evening, but snow in the morning, followed by torrential rain in the late afternoon, saw the match postponed due to a waterlogged pitch. The manager praised the efforts of the Mansfield ground staff, who were tirelessly working on the pitch since 8:30am this morning. “We desperately tried all day,” the boss told iFollow Stags. “Mez [Michael Merriman, head groundsman] and the ground staff have been working since 8:30am this morning - they did everything they could. “There was light rain forecast, and then this torrential rain has appeared from absolutely nowhere from around four o’clock. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2021/february/gaffer-on-bolton-postponement/ “I think even if it hadn’t been a little bit wet before, we would have struggled with what’s come down in the last hour or so. “We were desperate to get the game on and everyone is disappointed and frustrated. But there is sometimes nothing you can do. The amount of rain that has come down has made it impossible. “I don’t think it [conditions] bothers us, we just want to play. The lads have kept preparing and coming in raring to go, and the games get called off (three times in a row). It’s hugely frustrating for us. “The referee [Seb Stockbridge] did everything he could, but said there were too many areas [that are waterlogged]. The forecast is for it to just keep going, that’s another thing to take into consideration.” The manager also outlined the plans for the remainder of the week, ahead of Saturday’s home match against Forest Green Rovers. “I know that Mez and his lads will be working on it [pitch ahead of Forest Green game]. We're going to get some more covers on it as well. We’ll do everything we can to get the game on,” he added. “We’ll have the lads training tomorrow morning for a session that has to replace the game. We’ll then prepare again for Saturday. “The biggest concern at this stage is that we’ve only played the one game at Southend in three weeks now. “We’ll have a chat with the players about that, but when you get into the groove of winning games, you want to play three times a week. It’s a nice habit. “All of a sudden, you're starting from scratch again. The five straight wins now seems like a long time ago, so it’s going to be a different challenge on Saturday.” Following a transfer deadline day that ran right to the wire for the Stags, the boss gave his thoughts on the January window as a whole, declaring he is ‘very happy’ with his squad. “It [deadline day] was pretty hectic all the way through. We had a good training session first thing, then all attention turned to the transfer deadline. “We’d been working on a few things anyway for the last week, but it always - inevitably - goes to the last day. “I’d had a chat with Nicky [Maynard] last week, and talked about how well Jamie Reid and Jordan [Bowery] had done, and his opportunities would probably be limited, providing they kept playing like that. “He asked to look at things with a view to earning a deal for next season. If he sits and just comes off the bench a couple of times, that doesn’t help him for next season. We want to be fair to everyone, so he went to Newport on loan. Cooky had gone earlier in the window. “We’re very happy with the squad that we’ve got. We got Oliver Sarkic in at the last minute - he can play anywhere across the front three. “We brought the third-choice goalie [Jamie Pardington] in, which we needed. We’d already got Stephen Quinn in too. It gives us 18 outfield players and 3 goalkeepers. That should be plenty to get us through the end of the season. “He [Sarkic] will offer us that little bit of quality - technically, he’s a very good player. He has versatility and can play anywhere across the front three. With Cooky and Nicky, their position is just central, they couldn't do one of the wide ones. Jordon can go up the middle, Jamie Reid can, Ollie Sarkic can. So we've got 3 options straight away. “[On Jamie Pardington coming in] We’d been concerned for the last couple of months that if anything happened to Marek [Stech] or Stoney [Aidan Stone], then we’re delving into a 17-year-old on the bench from the academy. “We’ve had plenty of games where if you have a 17-year-old on the bench, your goalie gets sent off or injured, using a 17-year old is not ideal! We needed a third choice and we’re very happy with Jamie. “We’re very happy with the squad. In an ideal world, we'd have had another body in. There's still a possibility of one or two going out on loan to the Conference. "Tyrese [Sinclair] will be involved, as will James Clarke and Jason Law. “We’ve also mentioned that if we need a striker on the bench, we’ll promote Nathan Caine from the academy. He played at Scunthorpe in the Papa John’s Trophy, so there are no problems if he’s involved as well. “We never take anyone for the sake of it, so if we’re going to sign a young player, let’s look at our own young players first and give them an opportunity.” iFollow Stags subscribers can watch the boss' interview in full by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow. ----------------------- Nigel Clough told BBC Radio Nottingham: "It could be six consecutive Tuesdays now. You have these busy spells throughout a season and we deal with it. The one thing we've got is we've got some fit lads." -----------------------
-------------------------- Ian Evatt 'furious' after Bolton Wanderers' game against Mansfield Town postponed again By John McDougall, 2 FEB 2021 Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt was 'furious' that his side's away game against Mansfield Town was called off for the second time in the space of a week. The Trotters had been due to take on the Stags at the One Call Stadium this evening after the same fixture last Tuesday was postponed owing to a frozen pitch. On that occasion, the decision was made around lunchtime. But today, the announcement was made around 90 minutes before kick-off. Evatt, who lives in nearby Chesterfield, said that an inspection took place around lunchtime today where the pitch was described as 'borderline'. But with the weather forecast predicting rain throughout the day in this part of Nottinghamshire, Evatt does not understand why Wanderers had to travel to the stadium and incur the costs they have had to as part of their travels. https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/bolton-mansfield-postponed-evatt-reaction-19755956 He said: “I’m fuming to be honest - I’m furious. I live 20 minutes from here and last week the game was called off far too early. At three or four o’clock the game would have been perfectly playable. "The temperature had increased and the groundman had just said the same thing to me. "Today I wake up 20 minutes away and knowing what the conditions were like last week and what the pitch is like, I said to myself straight away that it’s off. “They had an inspection at half 12 and said it was borderline but you only have to look at the weather forecast to know it is absolutely going to lash it down for two hours this evening. “We incur costs for the hotel, travel all the way down here and it’s called off. It isn’t acceptable behaviour and I don’t know who is to blame but it isn’t good enough. “It isn’t so much the travel, even though it isn’t cheap to travel on coaches and costs for pre-match food and meeting rooms, then to travel with Covid and increase the risk of that. It beggars belief, really, that this game was not called off this morning. “You don’t need to be Michael Fish to know it was going to rain - and if the pitch was already like that with all the snow we had overnight, it was only going to deteriorate from there. It made no sense for us to travel all this way and incur the cost it did. “Apparently there is a local ref who came to look at the pitch. Apparently he said it was ‘iffy’ but that we’d give it a go. Low and behold the heavens open and we have another one called off." Another source of frustration for Evatt was that the postponement has interfered with Bolton's training schedule, with the players having to travel to the game. He added: “It’s frustrating because it has messed up our schedule, and because the players have travelled again we can’t really get them in in the morning because of the amount of time they will have spent on the road. "Tomorrow we will have to have a recovery day and then Thursday and Friday train." ----------------------- Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt fumes at Mansfield Town postponement theboltonnews.co.uk, By Marc Iles IAN Evatt has slammed Mansfield Town for not calling off tonight’s League Two fixture sooner. Wanderers had to make an early exit from Field Mill after the game was postponed 90 minutes before kick-off for a waterlogged pitch. It was the second time the fixture has been called off because of the weather and Evatt did not hide his disappointment as the rain continued to fall on the touchline. “I’m fuming to be honest - I’m furious,” he told The Bolton News. “I live 20 minutes from here and last week the game was called off far too early. At three or four o’clock the game would have been perfectly playable. https://www.theboltonnews.co.uk/sport/19059524.bolton-wanderers-boss-ian-evatt-fumes-mansfield-town-postponement/ “The temperature had increased and the groundsman had just said the same thing to me. Today I wake up 20 minutes away and knowing what the conditions were like last week and what the pitch is like, I said to myself straight away that it’s off.” Evatt revealed that a pitch inspection had taken place in the afternoon - which was not announced publicly by the host club - but the pitch was deemed just about playable by the match official. “They had an inspection at half 12 and said it was borderline but you only have to look at the weather forecast to know it is absolutely going to lash it down for two hours this evening,” he said. “Apparently there is a local ref who came to look at the pitch. Apparently he said it was ‘iffy’ but that we’d give it a go. Low and behold the heavens open and we have another one called off. “We incur costs for the hotel, travel all the way down here and it’s called off. It isn’t acceptable behaviour and I don’t know who is to blame but it isn’t good enough. “It isn’t so much the travel, even though it isn’t cheap to travel on coaches and costs for pre-match food and meeting rooms, then to travel with Covid and increase the risk of that. It beggars belief, really, that this game was not called off this morning. “You don’t need to be Michael Fish to know it was going to rain - and if the pitch was already like that with all the snow we had overnight, it was only going to deteriorate from there. It made no sense for us to travel all this way and incur the cost it did.” Wanderers must now reschedule the game and focus on this weekend’s trip to Salford City - but Evatt admits the postponement will have a knock-on effect on his training ground. “It’s frustrating because it has messed up our schedule, and because the players have travelled again we can’t really get them in in the morning because of the amount of time they will have spent on the road. Tomorrow we will have to have a recovery day and then Thursday and Friday train.” ----------------------- 'On our terms' - Bolton Wanderers boss Ian Evatt makes vow for rearranged Mansfield Town fixture The League Two fixture will have to be pencilled in for a third date after two postponements https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/mansfield-bolton-ian-evatt-postponement-19757196 Ian Evatt has vowed that the away fixture against Mansfield Town will be rearranged on Bolton Wanderers' terms when the game is pencilled in for a third date. The League Two fixture has been called off twice in the space of eight days owing to weather conditions. On the first occasion, a frozen pitch around lunchtime at the One Call Stadium meant the game was postponed, though there have been suggestions that the match might have been playable later on in the day had a decision been delayed. And last night, the second attempt at playing the fixture ended with frustration again when the match was postponed around 90 minutes before kick-off due to a waterlogged pitch after heavy rain in Nottinghamshire. Wanderers boss Evatt said after the postponement that an inspection made at 12:30pm yesterday had the pitch as 'borderline' then, with more rain forecast to fall throughout the day. With Bolton having incurred costs to travel to Nottinghamshire, Evatt blasted the situation as unacceptable, and added that with the threat posed by coronavirus, he said it 'beggar's belief' the game was not called off in the morning. After last week's game was postponed and a Mansfield offer to play the game 24 hours later last Wednesday was declined by Wanderers. Evatt said that the Stags then wanted the match to be played yesterday, which Bolton agreed to. But in light of the postponements, Evatt has vowed that when the game is pencilled in for a third date, it will be on Bolton's terms. He said: "The positives are that when it is arranged - and on our terms this time - we will have all our players available. “We were frustrated that it was called off and they wanted to play Wednesday but why would we? "Then they wanted to play the game this week so it was agreed with them we’d do it, and it’s called off again. "This time we’ll be making sure that when the game is replayed, it is on our terms, our window of opportunity. “I’ll have a good look at things with the powers that be and make a call on it." --------------------- |
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