Archived News from August 2003
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Mansfield Town 5 Scunthorpe United 0
from iron-online.com By Gary Horner The Iron returned to Feild Mill after a seasons absence only to be duly whipped 5-0 as the Stags turned on the style............... I made the short journey back up the M1,M18,M180 still wondering what the hell happened, we were beaten by a team who had pace, skill but most importantly hunger for the ball. To say Mansfield were not outstanding would be an injustice and was probably one of the best performances I have ever seen from a team in Division 3. Sharp was ran riot by the impressive No7 Lawrence all evening and the midfield swamped at times unable to cope with Mansfield's attacking style and passion for the ball. I don't want to take anything away from the Stags performance because it could of easily been 10 but for me the "Assistant Referee" didn't help United's cause, the first goal resulting from a corner after a clear offside wasn't given against Christie, but enough of that. Beagrie and Evans were the only two players who could walk of the pitch with any slight credit. Christie and Mendes were clearly too much too handle for a defence that saw Byrne playing right back and McCombe in the centre, McCombe maybe good in the air but last night showed his frailties. The Stags took the lead on 9 minutes following a corner which Day latched onto to head the ball into the net, another goal from a set piece. 9 minutes later and Mansfield were 2-0 up after when Christie combined with Mendes who the fired the ball past a helpless Evans. United though did have one good effort on goal, Hayes with a thunderous shot which was going top corner only to be tipped over by Pilkington. Half-time then and only 2-0 down, after a rollicking off Laws United started the game with the attitude that saw Mansfield dominate the first half, United having a couple of chances to claw back the lead and keeping the Stags quiet. But that didn't last long on 64 minutes Jackson gave away a free kick just outside the box, Lawrence stepping up curling the ball into the corner of the net clipping the underside of the bar on the way in. That opened the floodgates again and 8 minutes later Christie had made it 4 after Evans parried a shot by Mendes straight to the No 22. After that I don't know what happened, for the first time I had left a game early, nothing to do with the game, Mansfield were outstanding to watch, I just wanted United to walk off the pitch to an empty stand, to understand what a performance like that means to the United faithful who travelled from Scunny, some having to leave work early, swap shifts and then pay £15 pounds for the privilege. As we travelled back home Laws coming on the radio fuming and totally disappointed with his teams performance and so he should be, but times that by ten even hundred and you will now how every one of the massive following felt coming back after that humiliation. |
Latest | August 2003