Archived News from April 2014
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COX, RHEAD & JIM BENTLEY REACTION
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video interviews with Paul Cox and Matt Rhead http://www.player.mansfieldtown.net/latest-news/article/3751248/date/20140405221500/page/0/name/video--cox-and-rhead-on-shrimps--win Mark Stevenson to Matt Rhead: Are you contracted for next season? Matt Rhead: Yes -------------------- Cox on victory at Morecambe mansfieldtown.net, 5th April 2014 Manager Paul Cox has urged his team to maintain their fine form for the remainder of the season, following this afternoon’s vital 1-0 victory at Morecambe. Read more at http://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/article/cox-on-victory-at-morecambe-1469690.aspx#j0osV4s2up4kxuIi.99 Junior Daniel’s magnificent free-kick on 42 minutes proved to be the deceive winner, as Stags picked up their third win in a row, climbing into the top half of Sky Bet League Two and 10 points above the relegation zone. Our manager believes his side still have a lot more to improve on, but was proud of his players after this afternoon’s crucial win at the Globe Arena. “Until it is mathematically safe, we're going to keep on going,” said Cox. “We've seen a couple of results today which have and haven’t gone against us. “I’m going to drive these boys on and we are going to finish this season well, because that is what we are paid to do. “We've got Rochdale next week which is a big game again, but we've put a run of good results together now, so we will give the boys a few days off to recharge again." He continued: “I thought we lacked a bit of quality at times, but we can look at the season as a whole, looking at what we've done well and what we've done badly. “I want us to improve and get better and there’s an awful lot more we can get better at. The players are running through a brick wall like they’ve done again today and you can’t fault them.” Reflecting more on today's game, our manager admitted it was a feisty encounter, highlighted by the fact that the home side went down to 10 men on 82 minutes, following Andrew Fleming’s red card for a late tackle on Adam Murray. Cox continued: “I think we knew what was coming our way. We knew Morecambe were going to come out and both sides really went for each other. “There were tackles, there were incidences and there was everything you can really think about in a football match. I’m just happy we got the 1-0 win because today was a right battle. “I thought the sending off was correct and the referee got it right. There were a lot of incidences that were off the ball which maybe should have been pulled up, but that was pretty even on both sides.” Meanwhile, Cox revealed the extent of Lee Beevers’ shoulder injury, as the defender was brought off after four minutes, being replaced by goal scorer Daniel. He added: “It was a dislocated shoulder. It came out of his socket again, so we had to bring him off as quickly as possible. “He is fine now as it has popped back in. It’s an ongoing problem which he will be having an operation on at some point.” --------------- Stags boss defends Rhead after bruising win chad.co.uk Paul Cox defended giant Mansfield Town centre forward Matt Rhead after his physical style saw him become the target of Morecambe players and fans amid several flashpoints in Stags’ 1-0 win in today’s bad-tempered clash at the Globe Arena. http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/stags-boss-defends-rhead-after-bruising-win-1-6544662?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed Rhead was accused by the home side of throwing his elbow on more than one occasion during a bruising match that saw nine yellow cards and one red with referee Darren Deadman having his hands full. Alex Kenyon finished up with a broken nose and home skipper Mark Hughes with eight stitches in his mouth in a match that often threatened to break out into open warfare on the field and between the two benches. But Stags boss Cox said: “I will back my player 100 per cent. He is one of my babies. “They said Rheady led with his elbow a couple of times but he has scratch marks right down his neck where he has been raked. “He was getting elbowed left, right and centre, so if you dish it out you have got to be able to receive it as well. “One of their players had him in a headlock in their box at one stage and how it wasn’t a penalty I don’t know. “Just because someone gets a bloody nose doesn’t mean someone has done something untoward or out of order. “What do people want? It was a tempestuous game. Both teams wanted to win and that is a great feeling.” Eventually the only red card was shown to Morecambe’s Andrew Fleming after he dived into a tackle on Adam Murray with studs showing near the end. Cox said: “There were a few nasty tackles out there and the sending-off was deserved. Adam’s shin is very sore. “There were a lot of off-the ball incidents, probably even on both sides. The referee missed a few things from both sides. “We knew what was coming and both sides were really going for each other. There were tackles, incidents and everything you could think about in a football match. “I was just happy to get the 1-0 win because it was a right battle. “There was a lot at stake for both teams and we knew we’d have to match their tenacity. We didn’t do that for the first 15/20 minutes. “But I thought we really dominated the second half and their keeper pulled off two great saves.” Stags sealed their first ever win over the Shrimps in their fourth meeting with a magnificent long range Junior Daniel free kick that found the top corner. But Cox revealed he still had to persuade Daniel to take another from a similar range in the second half from which Barry Roche made a great save. “It was an amazing free kick, there’s not a keeper in the world that would have saved that,” said Cox. “Yet from a similar position in the second half he didn’t want to take another until I told him to. From that their keeper has made a world class save. I don’t want how he managed to adjust and get a hand to it.” Stags are now 12th in League Two, 10 points clear of the drop zone with five games to go, although only seven points off the play-off places. But Cox refuses to accept his side are safe yet. “Not until the maths add up,” he said. “We will keep going and we are enjoying it at the minute. “That’s three wins on the bounce and we don’t want the season to end at the moment. “I am going to drive these boys on and finish the season well. We are putting a run of results together now. They can have a few days off to recover and then we will go again. “I thought we lacked quality at times today. But these players are running through a brick wall for the football club and the badge and I can’t fault them.” Cox will also speak with his coach Micky Moore over an alleged clash between Moore and a Morecambe official after the game when Moore was allegedly threatened. Cox said: “If they did then that is totally unprofessional. I know passions were running high. But to do that would be totally unprofessional, so we will look at that and if so we will make a statement when we find out the facts.” Stags defender Lee Beevers had to have his shoulder put back in its socket yet again after another dislocation just four minutes into the match and Cox added: “It’s been popped back in and we know he will need an operation at some time. “It is just ongoing. It’s hard lines as he’s been doing really well for us” ------------------ Rhead happy to be public enemy number one in Morecambe chad.co.uk Matt Rhead ended yesterday’s bruising 1-0 win at Morecambe as public enemy number one at the Globe Arena after several clashes with opponents in a bad tempered game. http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/mansfield-town/rhead-happy-to-be-public-enemy-number-one-in-morecambe-1-6544728?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed Rhead was involved in a number of flashpoints, and roundly booed by the home supporters, who believed he should have been sent off for throwing an elbow on more than one occasion. “It was disappointing as I thought they might have welcomed me,” he smiled. “But I gave as good as I got today. Their players came out of it the worst to be fair. They were not happy with the physicality. “I have a few bumps and lumps, though I get that every game.” Rhead admitted that winding up the opposition is an important part of his game, saying: “That is part of it. But they tried to get me sent off for long periods of the game so it was nice to see one of their players get sent off in the end. “They had a game plan to try to get me sent off, every header, every challenge they were trying to get the referee’s attention. Luckily he saw through that. “It was a competitive game and Morecambe is a tough place to come. It was a massive win for us. “You know what you are getting when you come here. They threw everything at us, but we were the better side and had the better chances.” Rhead said no one would be relaxing with Stags now all but safe and admitted he had enjoyed his first season in League football. “We want to get as many points as we can and we are looking up, not down,” he said. “It (the season) has been unbelievable with every game a real eye opener. “I have learned a lot this season from sitting on the bench to start with to coming into the team. It should stand me in good stead for next season.” Shrimps boss Jim Bentley said: “Mansfield are a big, strong side. “We watched clips of them this week and we knew they had certain players that like to push the boundaries. The lads knew what to expect. “Today I don’t think we got the protection we deserved, but we are not going to harp on about it. “Mark Hughes has had eight stitches and Alex Kenyon has a broken nose. Something has got to be done.” ------------------- Bentley: We didn’t deserve to lose against Mansfield http://www.thevisitor.co.uk/sport/football/morecambe-fc/bentley-we-didn-t-deserve-to-lose-against-mansfield-1-6544696 Jim Bentley conceded his side were punished for a “silly foul” against Mansfield but felt they didn’t deserve to lose at the Globe Arena on Saturday. Colin Daniel’s stunning free-kick shortly before half-time was enough to condemn the Shrimps to their third straight 1-0 defeat. But the Morecambe boss was left frustrated after Robbie Threlfall has brought down Matt Rhead to give Daniel the opportunity from all of 30 yards. Bentley said: “We’ve had a really positive week (in the run up to the game) and looked really sharp. “We got into decent positions and had a fantastic chance with Jack (Redshaw). If he goes down it’s a penalty and a sending off or he’s got to take the goal. “But we played some good stuff and knew that a set play or a silly foul in an awkward area would probably be their best chance of scoring and that was proven today. “We gave a silly foul away and the lad’s scored a world-class goal. “It’s worthy of winning any game but we shouldn’t have given away the foul in that area in the first place. “I don’t think we deserved to lose the game but critical little errors in key areas are costing us at the moment and it’s hard to take. “When you’re down there are you’re struggling for results everything seems to go against you.” ----------------- Morecambe boss wants more protection from referees after Mansfield loss http://www.thevisitor.co.uk/sport/football/morecambe-fc/morecambe-boss-wants-more-protection-from-referees-after-mansfield-loss-1-6544683 Jim Bentley believes his players aren’t getting the protection they need from referees. The Morecambe boss saw his side slip to a third successive 1-0 defeat as they came out on the wrong side of a physical battle with Mansfield at the Globe Arena on Saturday. It leaves the Shrimps five points above the League 2 drop zone with Bentley frustrated at referee Darren Deadman’s performance. The official produced 10 yellow cards and sent off Andy Fleming late on and the Morecambe boss also felt he was too lenient towards Mansfield number nine Matt Rhead. ?Bentley said: “I don’t think the players have had the protection they deserve from the referee. “It was absolutely scandalous in my opinion. “I’ve always said I was not going to get on referees’ cases too much because it’s a difficult job at the best of times. “But we’ve had this throughout the season. I don’t know whether it’s because we’re a small club we just don’t get any protection. “Alex Kenyon had his nose broken with a blatant elbow in the first five minutes last week (against Bristol Rovers). “After one minute there was a bone-crunching tackle on Andy Wright that ruled him out of today and then Kenyon had his nose elbowed again and it realigned it for him and then he had it bust again today. “Mark Hughes has about eight stitches in his mouth from an elbow and it took until about the fifth time before he (Rhead) got the booking he deserved. “We watched DVDs on them and he is one of those players that puts his elbow into challenges. “We’re trying to clamp down on things like this but I’ve got players with bags of ices on their faces in the dressing room. “It wasn’t a great game for the referee today and I’ll go and tell him that now to his face because I’ve needed time to cool down.” Bentley admitted he didn’t see Fleming’s late sending off for an apparent stamp on Stags skipper Adam Murray but said that the player had protested his innocence. He said: “I’ve got to take his word for it because he’s an honest kid and I’ll have to see it again before I make my mind up on it.” -------------------- Barry Roche column: Now we’re in a real relegation scrap http://www.thevisitor.co.uk/sport/football/morecambe-fc/barry-roche-column-now-we-re-in-a-real-relegation-scrap-1-6547489 Well there is no doubt about it, we are in a real relegation scrap now. The other results around us couldn’t have gone any worse and we certainly didn’t do ourselves any favours against Mansfield. We knew that they would come and try to bully their way to a victory and we worked all week at training on how to combat their physical threat. And for the first half an hour our plan was working a treat. We moved the ball really well and cut through them pretty easily. We could and should have been a couple up by the time they broke the deadlock but we didn’t take our chances and we paid the price. After the break we got ourselves involved in a battle with them and got dragged down to their level. Don’t get me wrong, they are effective at what they do but their brand of football is awful and if we’d been given a few decisions that blatantly should have gone our way then it could have been a very different game. (Mark) Hughesy got a bust lip, Alex (Kenyon) broke his nose again and several fouls later their striker still only ended up with a yellow card which doesn’t really add up in my eyes. A lot of the referee’s decisions were a little bit strange but that isn’t the reason we lost the game. We have got ourselves into this mess and we have to get ourselves out of it. ---------------- Alan Marriott @Mazza_78 What a disgusting game of football but who cares!! 3 pts,clean sheet!! #happydays Pub team as well apparently one of their players said! Martin Riley @LifeofRiley6 Boom! 3 points! Away win! 3 out of four clean sheets! Unbelievable support again. Safe journey home #stags Darryl Westlake @DarrylWestlake What an absolute grind that was, great feeling winning 1-0 away. Fans were different class throughout. 5 games to go! #stags Oliver Palmer @OliverJPalmer What a nasty bunch of team mates I have.. Absolutely love them! What a win, the fans carried us over the line! ----------------- |
Latest | April 2014