Archived News from October 2018
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FLITCROFT, MATT PRESTON AND RYAN LOWE REACTION
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Focus at both ends vital, says boss mansfieldtown.net, 6 October 2018 Stags’ boss David Flitcroft has emphasised the importance of focus and concentration at both ends of the pitch after his side’s 2-2 draw with Bury at Gigg Lane this afternoon. The Stags led twice thanks to goals from Danny Rose and Matt Preston, but Nicky Maynard’s 95th minute equaliser ensured the spoils were shared. Speaking to mansfieldtown.net after the game, he said: “Defending is about focus and concentration, but scoring goals is [as well]. It only ever matters what you do in those two boxes to win a football match. “There was a lot of fight and spirit from the players. They desperately wanted to win this football match. “It’s another point to the tally and another unbeaten game but we are disappointed not to take all three points from a winning position. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2018/october/flitcroft-post-bury/ “We’ll keep instilling the values that we are doing. We need to kill their hope with a [another] goal, that’s the one that we are looking for. “You’re only ever in possession or out of possession, and we have to make sure that we keep focusing in that. We’ve scored two goals today and could’ve had more. The second and third goals are the vital ones and they will come, I absolutely believe that. “Danny [Rose] is always looking for an opportunity to score a goal. And that’s what he did. He used his initiative and realised that the ‘keeper hadn’t seen him. “When the ‘keeper dropped it, he took full advantage. You have the fourth official, you have the linesman who is in line with it and the referee is in a good position. “[We have to] show them [the players] the dominance they have in games and reiterate that. We have to keep looking at tidying up the work and the concentration. It’s the same at both ends of the pitch. “When you have those opportunities or are defending a lead, you have to keep a calm head. You have to make sure that in those key moments there is a calmness to your work. “We’re 11 games in and in terms of the consistency of the work and the shape of the team is right. We’ve come here away from home and created lots of chances again. “I’m going to work with these players and make them feel good about themselves. There’s a fine balance, and that’s what I have to get right. “You need a cool head and excellent execution. Those are the two factors for me at both ends of the pitch. When we get them right, we’ll consistently keep clean sheets and score goals. “You look at Tuesday and it’s one of the best performances I’ve been involved in. But we have to start turning those into three points. We’ve not been able to deliver that, and we have to start delivering those three points because we had them today. Rose's deadlock-breaker set Stags alight following a strong opening ten minutes from the home side, of which the manager said: “It was two good teams locking horns together. We’ve come here and Bury started like a train and came at us. “Once we weathered that storm, we made a couple of good opportunities. Danny [Rose] has shown really good intuition to know that the ‘keeper doesn’t know where he is. “I was really pleased to get to half-time in front. We looked really solid and stopped the flow of Bury in the last 25 minutes [of the first half]. “Their [first] goal was a fantastic finish. Even though he [Maynard] had a bit of space it’s a tough one to execute and I think he did it brilliantly. Then they had the momentum. “But we wrestled it a little bit and got that second goal. Matt Preston showed real desire to score that goal. It was a fantastic ball. I’ve been disappointed with our set piece conversion. But it was great desire by Matty, then you’re 2-1 in front. “Where they got seven minutes from, I’m still trying to figure that one out. That gives everyone a lift. We’ve not seen it [the game] out, and they’ve opened us up. “Bobby [Olejnik]’s save should’ve been the match-winning save. It’s a phenomenal save after he’s raced off his line. That’s the moment for me as a player where I would have been super-charged, knowing that Bobby has just won us three points.” Striker Craig Davies was absent from the matchday 18, and the Stags’ boss provided an injury update on the forward. “On Thursday and Friday his [Craig Davies] ankle just flared up. He’s rocked it a little bit so we’re looking into that. “The medical team will get busy with that over the next 48 hours so we can get the right intel into what he’s done. He certainly wasn’t okay for today.” iFollow Stags subscribers can watch the manager’s interview in full by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow later today. --------------------- Flitcroft laments late leveller as Mansfield Town draw at Bury chad.co.uk Mansfield Town boss David Flitcroft has demanded more concentration at both ends of the pitch following Saturday's 2-2 draw at Bury. Nicky Maynard's 95th minute equaliser, his second goal of the game, denied Stags all three points after goals from Danny Rose and Matt Preston had seen them 2-1 up going into stoppage time. And Flitcroft highlighted how crucial what goes on in each penalty area is to how games turn out. He said: "Defending is about focus and concentration, but so is scoring goals. It only ever matters what you do in those two boxes to win a football match. “There was a lot of fight and spirit from the players. They desperately wanted to win. “It’s another point to the tally and another unbeaten game but we are disappointed not to take all three points from a winning position. Read more at: https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/flitcroft-laments-late-leveller-as-mansfield-town-draw-at-bury-1-9385918 “We’ll keep instilling the values that we are doing. We need to kill their hope with a another goal, that’s the one that we are looking for. “You’re only ever in possession or out of possession, and we have to make sure that we keep focusing in that. We’ve scored two goals today and could’ve had more. The second and third goals are the vital ones and they will come, I absolutely believe that." Flitcroft praised Rose's role in scoring the opener, which came after Bury goalkeeper Joe Murphy dropped the ball as he prepared to clear. “Danny Rose is always looking for an opportunity to score a goal. And that’s what he did. He used his initiative and realised that the ‘keeper hadn’t seen him," said Flitcroft. “When the ‘keeper dropped it, he took full advantage. You have the fourth official, you have the linesman who is in line with it and the referee is in a good position. "You need a cool head and excellent execution. Those are the two factors for me at both ends of the pitch. When we get them right, we’ll consistently keep clean sheets and score goals." Rose's goal nipped a good start from the hosts in the bud and Flitcroft was pleased to get in at half-time with the lead, but then disappointed Stags couldn't see the game out during what he felt was too much stoppage time. He said: "Bury started like a train and came at us. Once we weathered that storm, we made a couple of good opportunities. I was really pleased to get to half-time in front. We looked really solid and stopped the flow of Bury in the last 25 minutes. “Their first goal was a fantastic finish. Even though Maynard had a bit of space it’s a tough one to execute and I think he did it brilliantly. Then they had the momentum. “But we wrestled it a little bit and got that second goal. Matt Preston showed real desire to score that goal. It was a fantastic ball. I’ve been disappointed with our set piece conversion. But it was great desire by Matty, then you’re 2-1 in front. “Where they got seven minutes from, I’m still trying to figure that one out. That gives everyone a lift. We’ve not seen the game out, and they’ve opened us up. “Bobby Olejnik’s save should’ve been the match-winning save. It’s a phenomenal save after he’s raced off his line. That’s the moment for me as a player where I would have been super-charged, knowing that Bobby has just won us three points. “When you have those opportunities or are defending a lead, you have to keep a calm head. You have to make sure that in those key moments there is a calmness to your work." ----------------- Defender insists on improved finishing mansfieldtown.net, 6 October 2018 Defender Matt Preston says that consistent victories will come for the Stags but admitted that more chances need to be converted into match-winning goals. The men from north Nottinghamshire were on the receiving end of a 95th minute equaliser against Bury when Nicky Maynard fired home his second of the afternoon. This was the Stags’ seventh draw in 11 league matches thus far, despite playing some superb football throughout the campaign, also losing only once in that period. Preston acknowledged both his own and the team’s frustration following the 2-2 draw at Gigg Lane, but remained positive as he believes the wins will eventually transpire. “I think [the wins] will come, it’s only a matter of time,” he began. “We won 4-0 last week so I think it’s just down to us as a team to take those chances, score those goals and we can kill the game off to deflate the opposition. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2018/october/preston-post-bury/ “We had a lot of chances it’s just not going our way at the minute. I’d say we had five one-on-one chances today that have to be goals. “I think we were unfortunate but like the gaffer says we have to be more clinical. We have to have that bit of finesse about us to put teams away. It’s a very frustrating time.” The 23-year-old - who scored Stags’ second goal this afternoon - also detailed what it was like inside the Stags’ heated dressing room due to the final score. “We’ve just had a heated argument in there [the dressing room] about what we could be doing - it’s very, very frustrating and we’re not sure but I think the scoring part’s got to improve for us. “We already have the best defensive record so if we were able to score more then we wouldn’t have to defend that one-goal lead and we, instead, could sit on the halfway line with the ball. “Just now there were a lot of people going at it but it’s 100 percent a good thing. It shows that people care and everyone does care. “The fact that we’re so frustrated is fuelling it so we’re not accepting it - we want to strive for excellence” Preston stated. Finally, the centre-half refused to shy away from his post-match feelings with the surrounding emotion an expected air of frustration. “It’s becoming a habit now and it’s really frustrating. We just had a bit of a discussion in there about what we could have done better and we’re very frustrated at the minute. “I thought the goal that I scored would have been the winner but the last minute equaliser just deflated us. You can tell by the way I’m talking that it’s killed us but we’ll have to bounce back. “We still have the best defensive record [in the league] at the minute I just don’t think it’s going our way in front of goal. We have to up our standards to meet the requirements of where we want to be.“ iFollow Stags subscribers can watch Matt Preston’s interview by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow later today. ------------------- The Sun Bury boss Ryan Lowe said: "Danny (Rose) said Joe dropped it and I didn't have a problem with that as goalkeepers will make mistakes. His mates got him out of the crap really but Joe has got them out of it enough times before." ------------------ Bury boss Ryan Lowe saluted two-goal hero Nicky Maynard after the talented striker scored deep in stoppage time to earn a 2-2 draw against Mansfield. clubcall.com Maynard, signed a fortnight ago from Aberdeen, grabbed a brace on a dream home debut as Bury roared back to seal a point they probably deserved. Lowe said: ‘Nicky’s quality - his movement, his clever play and his finishing - is there to be seen. ‘I think a point is the least we deserved. You can talk about controversial decisions but you saw a team who hasn’t had an ideal last few weeks but they went out there and performed. https://www.clubcall.com/league-2/bury/2018/10/06/lowe-hails-maynards-immediate-impact/ ‘We hardly trained this week but the energy they showed was second to none. I didn’t want anyone feeling sorry for themselves. ‘Nicky’s first goal, well I don’t know how he got there but his second one he was calm and composed and got what he deserved. ‘I said to the lads, ‘We’re nearly there but I don’t want to be there yet. I want to be there at the end of the season’. ‘We missed out on a stonewall penalty and those decisions change games, we could have had three points instead of one. ‘We can’t harp on too much about decisions like that, though. We know it’s up to us to work harder to get the results and not make any excuses afterwards. ‘Looking back at that game, we deserved more, and yet we were so close to ending up with a defeat.’ Danny Rose opened the scoring for Mansfield as he pounced on a clanger from Bury keeper Joe Murphy before slotting into an empty net. Maynard cracked home a spectacular scissor kick to make it 1-1 after 55 minutes, before the Stags regained the lead after 73 when defender Matt Preston powerfully headed home Timi Elsnik’s corner. Maynard slid home from 15 yards to earn a dramatic late point for Bury and Mansfield boss David Flitcroft was disappointed with the ending to his Gigg Lane return. Flitcroft, who managed Bury between 2013 and 2016, said: ‘I don’t know where the referee got seven minutes’ added time from. Even the home fans were laughing when the fourth official raised the board. ‘That gave Bury and their players a big lift. The stadium went up and then they go and get a goal after five minutes. ‘Having said that, we should have defended that second goal much better. We should have been supercharged enough to stay focused and defend our goal better. ‘We were looking good when we went 2-1 up quite late. ‘When Bury made it 1-1 that gave them momentum, but we’d worked our way back into the game and we really should have held on to our lead until the final whistle. ‘They threw the kitchen sink at us towards the end as you would expect, but we should have managed those final stages much better.’ Flitcroft also commented on Rose’s bizarre opening goal, when he pounced after Murphy spilled the ball at his feet. ‘Danny just took advantage in the best way possible,’ added Flitcroft. ‘He was alert to the error and credit to him for reacting as quickly as he did.’ ----------------- |
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