Archived News from August 2005
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MORE REPORTS AND REACTION
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mansfieldtown.net:
Palmer looks back at Peterborough defeat Carlton Palmer has had time to watch the video back from Saturday's defeat at London Road and feels that the Stags were rightly beaten on the day. Especially in the second half when the home side Peterborough came out of the starting blocks the stronger. "I am pleased with the first half performance where I felt that we were the better side creating chances and playing the ball around. But we lost it in the second half. That's probably because we had two injured players and two tired players. I didn't realise that Adam Rundle was injured otherwise I would'nt have played him but he was so desperate to keep his place that he wanted to play. I admire his courage and determination but when an injured player tries to go out there and play through the injury you aren't always going to get the best from them. Matthew Tipton is also carrying a knock and the lads Stephen Dawson and Adam Birchall were tired, not through playing their International games but the three games the week before and in hindsight I should have rested them." He told the official website this morning. Palmer himself, admits that we should be sitting towards the top of the table with seven points under our belts and it is crucial that we get back the sort of performance that saw us beat a poor Torquay United and claw out a draw against Stockport but carry it on for ninety minutes. Looking forward to tomorrow's (Tuesday 23 Aug KO 7.45pm) Carling Cup first round draw against Stoke City the Stags boss admits that although his number one priority is the league and promotion he enjoys the Carling Cup. "My top priority is the league and to get promotion but the Carling Cup is a football match and every football match has to be taken seriously and will be approached in exactly the same way as nay other game we play. We research the opposition and formulate a game plan with the intention of winning the game. There will be one or two changes so a couple of players will have the opportunity to come into the squad and stake a claim. "I have been delighted with the boys and as I said we should be sitting here with seven points so the boys will want to go out there tomorrow and put things right most importantly I don't want people thinking that we will not be taking this game very seriously, they are a good side but I will be focussing more on we can do rather than what Stoke will be doing." He added ----------- Observer report by Steve Hartshorn POOR 2ND HALF AS STAGS ARE PUNISHED BY POSH Peterborough United 2 Mansfield Town 0 Farrell (50) St Ledger (60). Attendance – 4,056. Poor Second half defending cost The Stags dearly as they slumped to their 2nd defeat of the season away at London Road, Peterborough last Saturday. The Stags had had slightly the upper hand in the first 45 minutes, but failed to find the clinical edge needed to forge ahead and in the 2nd period were suitably punished by goals from David Farrell and Shaun St Ledger. Stags were dealt an early blow when experienced goalkeeper, Kevin Pressman was ruled out with a back injury, Jason White deputising in an otherwise unchanged 4-4-2 from the previous weeks confident 3-0 home victory over Torquay United. Stags got off to a blistering start, forcing two early corners, indeed the home side, who had not won in their previous five home encounters, failed to effectively get out of their own half for the opening ten minutes. However despite The Stags early dominance the only serious strike on goal came from a blistering effort from Adam Rundle that flew straight into the arms of Mark Tyler in the Peterborough goal. The home side were reduced to ten men when centre half, Chris Plummer had to leave the field for 10 minutes to receive attention to a head injury, ironically it signalled the start of a Posh revival, Peterborough forcing two corners. It was the first time that they ventured with menace into the visitors half. On 22 minutes a Stags corner was not sufficiently cleared, Dawson returned the ball into the box where it was met by the head of Rhys Day, unfortunately for Stags, Tyler saved with ease. Stags wasted the best chance of the game on 29 minutes. Adam Rundle delivered a cross where from 15 yards; it was met by a powerful header from the unmarked Richie Barker. However the big Stags striker was possibly guilty of meeting the ball too well and watched with anguish as his effort flew over the crossbar. The home side came back and Farrell should have done better when a great cross from Adam Newton saw the Irish international head well wide. The Posh finished the half with a succession of corners but Stags defended well leaving the home side frustrated by a serious lack of goalscoring opportunities. The second period was only five minutes old though when Posh achieved the breakthrough. Shaun St Ledger whipped in a cross from the left; Quinn headed the ball back across the goal into the path of David Farrell, who made no mistake from close range. On 53 minutes, Simon Brown replaced Tipton as Stags tried to freshen things up and get back into the game. Jake Buxton was cautioned rather unfairly after what the Referee deemed a foul on Adam Newton. To be fair to the young Stags centre half, it looked a perfectly timed tackle, but Referee, Mr Dorr had not had the best of afternoon's. Thankfully for Stags, the free kick came to nothing. On the hour mark, Alex John-Baptiste entered the fray in place of Buxton and almost immediately Posh scored a second. Whereas the first goal could be deemed good play by the home side, their second goal can be attributed more to poor Stags defending than creative play. This time Farrell supplied the cross and St Ledger headed home virtually unchallenged. Gus Uhlenbeek came on for Adam Rundle as Boss, Palmer tried to shake up his side into some kind of response. On 78 minutes, Posh boss, Mark Wright obviously convinced the game was won, made a double substitution bringing off his front two Farrell and Quinn, replacing them with Benjamin and Logan. Stags were looking very much a defeated side in what had been the worst 45 minutes of the season thus far. Indeed it wasn't until four minutes into stoppage time before The Stags created their first shot in anger of the second period. Barker's free kick falling into the path of Simon Brown who's tight angled effort was easily saved by Tyler. This weekend Mansfield face the tricky trip to Boston United before the biggest home game of the season on Bank Holiday Monday when near neighbours, Notts County come calling. Peterborough United. Tyler, Carden, Burton, Arber, Farrell (Logan 78), Gain, Newton (Semple 64), St Ledger, Plummer, Quinn (Benjamin 78), Day. Subs not used; Harrison, Boucaud. Mansfield Town. White, Peers, Jelleyman, Day, Dawson, Barker, Tipton (Brown 53), Birchall, Buxton (John-Baptiste 60), McLachlan, Rundle (Uhlenbeek 72) Subs not used, Coke, Beardsley. Booked – Posh - Newton (34), St Ledger (42), Quinn (63), Gain (90). Booked – Stags - Buxton (54), Jelleyman (74). Referee – Mr S J Dorr. ------- STAGS SERVE UP HALF MEASURES Evening Post, 22 August 2005 Peterborough United 2 v 0 Mansfield Town Mansfield could do with playing a straight 90 minutes without half-time right now. For at Peterborough United on Saturday as at Stockport County on the season's opening day, the Stags wasted a promising first 45 minutes with a poor second half. But the old "game of two halves" label was even more prominent on Saturday as, for the first time this season, they let themselves and the fans down. At Stockport, at least, a sparkling first half had seen them go 2-0 up and, in a poor second period, they created a handful of chances of their own. But at London Road, after an excellent first 20 minutes, Stags rode their luck to go in level at 0-0. However, the side was unrecognisable in the second half as Carlton Palmer's young side, for the first time this season, looked like little boys lost. The 859 travelling supporters watched in horror as Posh stepped up the heat and were 2-0 up with the points sealed within 15 minutes of the restart. Indeed, it took until stoppage time before Mansfield could manage a shot at Mark Tyler, Simon Brown forcing him to save at his near post. Significantly, only veteran workhorse Richie Barker went over to the away fans at the end to acknowledge them. The rest of the side headed down the tunnel as quickly as possible. A week can be a long time in football and from the optimism of the previous Saturday's win over Torquay and the fact that Palmer was travelling to Peterborough with a fully-fit squad, it will be painful for the manager to be back at his desk this morning watching the video nasty of the latest game. Perhaps the first hint it was not going to be Mansfield's day came when Palmer had to rule out keeper Kevin Pressman with a back problem. Even so, young Jason White did not have a save to make in the first half. Home keeper Tyler had to get in the way of efforts by Matthew Tipton and Rhys Day while Barker, Stags' best player on the day by a mile, wasted a free header from an Adam Rundle cross. Posh menaced down the flanks but could not make anything of their crosses, while referee Steve Dorr turned down penalty appeals against Gavin Peers and then Day. But within five minutes of the restart White was picking the ball out of the net. The lively David Farrell was perfectly positioned, bang in front of goal, to head the ball over the line after James Quinn had nodded a Shaun St Ledger centre back across goal. Farrell returned the compliment ten minutes later as he saw St Ledger ghosting in at the far post and crossed long for him to out-jump the defenders and bury the ball under the far angle. Quinn also put a close-range finish wide from a Sagi Burton free kick as the visitors' defence looked wide open. By now Peter Gain was running midfield and Farrell and Quinn tore the visitors apart. Palmer stuck with the 4-4-2 that earned the first win of the season the previous weekend but do not be surprised to see 4-3-3 again, against Stoke City in the Carling Cup tomorrow or at Boston United on Saturday. Alex John-Baptiste and Simon Brown must be odds on to start a game too. What looked an exciting start the season suddenly looks a tougher one, with three successive away weekends punctuated by the visits of Stoke and Notts County. ANGRY PALMER WANTS CHANGE Evening Post, 22 August 2005 Furious Stags boss Carlton Palmer slammed his side's display - and sent an apology to travelling fans. "What has been said between me and the players will remain in the dressing room. I won't criticise them publicly," he said. "But there is going to have to be a change in attitude in one or two of them. For me, one hasn't started since he came here and I worked extremely hard to bring him to the football club and have been extremely disappointed so far. "I promise there will be a marked improvement on Tuesday. "I can only apologise to the supporters for that display. I thought the fans were fantastic and deserved better. "But to be honest, apart from Richie Barker, the team was poor and they should all be paying Richie's wages this week. "I will take full responsibility for this display. I should have made changes at Peterborough, but I didn't as we won 3-0 last week and everyone was saying we played so well. "I disagree with suggestions that we did well in the first half as Peterborough had two one-on-ones and should have scored. We never passed the ball or got down the side of them. "Possibly for the first 20 minutes we were the better side. But, having said all week we would play down the sides and get the full-backs in, we just lumped balls up to Richie Barker. "In fact, we didn't do a single thing in the whole 90 minutes that we had worked so hard all week on in training." WRIGHT HAPPY TO BEST MATE Evening Post, 22 August 2005 Posh boss Mark Wright celebrated getting one over on pal Carlton Palmer in their first meeting of the season. "Carlton is a friend of mine and we know what he is like," said Wright, who was in the same England side as Palmer. "We knew they wanted to play and come out of the gates very quickly. We told our players to turn them round and play in the last third but we didn't do that for the first 20 minutes. "We kept on at them and, when they finally did it, we got into some very good positions in their 18-yard box where our final ball let us down. "After last season, we are now looking strong and solid and organised and there is a self-belief developing which is fantastic." |
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