{ the news }
 
An independent supporters' website dedicated to Mansfield Town FC
Archived News from February 2020

BATTLING STAGS BEAT NEWPORT IN DREADFUL CONDITIONS
21st February 2020 20:35


English Football League - Sky Bet League Two
Mansfield Town 1 - 0 Newport County
Rose 29
Attendance: 3653 (111 from Newport)

Date: 15 February 2020

Martin Shaw at the One Call Stadium, Field Mill

Mansfield Town picked up a much-needed win this afternoon with a battling performance played out in the wind and rain of Storm Dennis as Danny Rose’s goal was enough to beat Newport County. Mansfield’s already fragile confidence had been hugely dented by late equalisers conceded against Carlisle and Morecambe in the last two weeks and further dented in putting in very disappointing performance to lose at Leyton Orient on Tuesday night.
The Stags were just desperate for a win in any circumstances to lift the mood.
It was wet, it was very windy, it was horrible, but Mansfield’s players worked hard to grind the victory which was thoroughly deserved.
The only goal of the game came after 29 minutes. Mickey Demetriou made a mess of a pass in the muddy conditions half way inside the Stags half, Will Tomlinson collected the loose ball and fed Nicky Maynard who charged forward from inside his own half to the edge of the area where his shot was blocked and rebounded to Danny Rose 25 yards from goal. Rose took a few touches to cut inside Dale Gorman and fire a hard low shot into the bottom left corner of the net from 17 yards. It was a great shot from Rose that fizzed past the keeper.
Rose, who had a fine game, had chances to increase the lead. After 40 minutes, his powerful shot from 30 yards was caught by the keeper in front of his face, three minutes later he swept a first time shot straight at the keeper from 12 yards, and then after 61 minutes his superb header from 14 yards was very well tipped around the post by the keeper after a great run and cross from CJ Hamilton. Nicky Maynard also drew a good save from the keeper after a turn and shot from 25 yards at the end of the first half.
Newport had very few efforts on goal but went close to equalising after 62 minutes when Gorman side-footed just wide from 16 yards after the Stags failed to clear their lines.
Poor defending there, but overall this was a dominant performance from the Stags back line of Ryan Sweeney, Krystian Pearce and the impressive Kelland Watts who were determined to keep Newport out. Behind them, goalkeeper Aidan Stone made his Football League debut, replacing the out of form Bobby Olejnik, and although he didn’t have any saves to make, Stone gave an assured display with good handling and was able to celebrate a clean sheet at the end of the game.
Only Mansfield’s 4th home win of the season, and one that makes the gap to bottom club Stevenage 13 points with 12 games to go.
I think a word should go to the excellent Stags fans who stuck with their side throughout despite the horrible conditions and a game that was never pretty, and roared their side to victory in the nervy closing stages as Newport pumped long throws and corners into the Stags box in stoppage time. The victory was for them, and everyone of a Mansfield persuasion will have a much better weekend after a result like this. Let’s have plenty more before the end of the season!

FULL REPORT IN THE MATCH CENTRE

-----------------------

MATCH REPORT: Danny Rose the hero as Mansfield Town secure vital points in home win over Newport County
chad.co.uk, By John Lomas, Saturday 15th February 2020

Danny Rose's 11th goal of the season proved enough for struggling Mansfield Town to secure three vital points in today's 1-0 windswept home win over Newport County.

In a game of few chances, wrecked by the powerful wind of Storm Dennis and a ran-sodden pitch, Rose pounced on 29 minutes and, with Stevenage losing at home home, extended the gap to the drop zone to 13 points.

Newport huffed and puffed in a scrappy second half but failed to test Aidan Stone, who marked his first ever Football league game with a clean sheet.

It was only new boss Graham Coughlan's third win in his 13 games in charge and left shot-shy Newport without a goal in 416 minutes of EFL football.

The Stags side saw three changes with one enforced as Riley missed out with a strain, White returning to the side.

https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/match-report-danny-rose-hero-mansfield-town-secure-vital-points-home-win-over-newport-county-1742041

In goal Stone was given his Football League debut as Olejnik dropped to the bench while Charsley came in for Benning.

Injury-hit Newport were only able to name five subs, which included ex-Stags loanee Howkins.

Stags made hard work of clearing a Newport corner in the opening minute in the testing conditions.

Then Demetriou was wide from 30 yards as the visitors kept the pressure on.

Rose needed treatment for taking a high boot to the head in the box, but nothing was given by the referee.

On 10 minutes Green was high and wide on the turn from 20 yards and then Gorman too high from a similar distance from a half-cleared throw.

Stags finally forced a couple of corners, the second of which saw Newport break menacingly after Charsley miscued a clearance, but Mansfield survived the scare as men got back quickly.

Mansfield were struggling to get into their stride in the conditions. But they swept ahead on 29 minutes.

Demetriou mis-kicked in the middle of the park and Maynard raced away with the loose ball. His eventual shot was blocked but the ball rolled back to Rose who buried a crisp, low finish from 16 yards.

On 40 minutes Rose fired straight at King from 25 yards as the home side began to enjoy more possession and soon after that he scuffed a first time at the keeper after good work on the right by White.

King was then down on 45 minutes to grab Maynard's shot on the turn as Stags went into half-time in control.

Inniss saw the game's first yellow card for a late challenge on Tomlinson on 49 minutes, but Tomlinson was well over with the free kick.

When Newport struggled to clear a Tomlinson free kick, Pearce eventually forced King down to make a save on 57 minutes.

On 61 minutes Hamilton swapped passes with Tomlinson to get down the left before crossing for Rose to force King to save at full length to his right.

A minute later the home side had a let-off as Matt fended off defenders back to goal before cueing up Gorman for a low finish wide of the left post.

Charsley was added to the book for a foul on 72 minutes and Dolan followed him on 82 minutes for bringing down Charsley.

Tempers rose on 90 minutes as Bishop went down off the ball after a clash with Labadie, but no cards were shown.

Nerves again jangled with five minutes added and home fans raised the noise level to try to see their side home, Stags surviving a corner in a sixth additional minute before the whistle brought huge celebrations.

STAGS: Stone; Sweeney, Pearce, Watts; White, Charsley, Tomlinson, Bishop, Hamilton; Maynard, Rose. Subs: Olejnik, Benning, Preston, Davies, Evans, Clarke, Knowles.

NEWPORT: King, Labadie, Gorman (Dolan 78), Willmott, Amond, Abrahams (Collins HT), Bennett, Waters (Matt 58), Inniss, Demetriou, Green. Subs: Howkins, Woodiwiss.

REFEREE: Dean Whitestone of Northamptonshire.

ATTENDANCE: 3,653 (111 away).

CHAD STAGS MAN OF THE MATCH: Danny Rose.

------------------

Mansfield Town 1 Newport County 0: Exiles beaten on the road
By Andrew Penman

INJURY-HIT Newport County AFC drew a blank for the fourth consecutive league match as they went down to 1-0 defeat at Mansfield Town.

County have now played almost seven hours of League Two football without scoring and they’re down to 16th in the table after a third defeat in four games.

The number of players sidelined made life extremely difficult for Michael Flynn’s men, as did the extremely blustery conditions and saturated playing surface.

But they failed to hit the target all afternoon and one defensive error allowed lowly Mansfield to chalk up a morale-boosting victory in their battle at the wrong end of the table.

https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/18238457.mansfield-town-1-newport-county-0-exiles-beaten-road/

With Dan Leadbitter injured and Otis Khan ineligible against his parent club, Robbie Willmott and Padraig Amond returned to the starting XI.

And Flynn, who was also without Mark O’Brien, Ryan Haynes, George Nurse, Ashley Baker, Josh Sheehan and Nick Townsend, opted to replace Jamille Matt with Tristan Abrahams.

Matty Dolan was the one man to make it out of the treatment room to join Matt on a five-man bench for the Exiles alongside Kyle Howkins and youngsters Lewis Collins and Joe Woodiwiss.

County started quite brightly on a grim day in the East Midlands, forcing a corner that the hosts struggled to clear in the first minute.

Mickey Demetriou, Jordan Green and Dale Gorman then all tried their luck from outside the area without hitting the target as the visitors enjoyed most of the play in the opening 20 minutes.

Green then wasted a golden opportunity of a breakaway goal as he pounced on a sliced clearance from Harry Charsley but ignored Abrahams, who was free on the left, and was crowded out in the middle as he went for glory on his own.

That proved costly five minutes later when a mistake from Demetriou led to the opening goal for the hosts.

Demetriou miskicked horribly as he shaped to float the ball into the Mansfield box and the hosts broke upfield quickly.

Demetriou got back to block the initial shot from Nicky Maynard but the ball broke for Danny Rose on the edge of the area and he hammered it low and hard to beat Tom King.

The Stags, who looked there for the taking before that moment, soon grew in confidence and began to dominate proceedings.

King, a virtual spectator for the opening quarter, had to be alert to deny Rose on two occasions and Maynard before the break.

Inniss, who had been County’s best performer in the first 45 minutes, was booked for a robust challenge five minutes after the restart and Flynn’s men were glad to see Will Tomlinson’s free-kick sail high over the bar.

King again got down well to keep out a Krystian Pearce effort just before the hour and then dived at full stretch to his right to stop Rose’s header as Mansfield continued to make most of the running.

Flynn withdrew Billy Waters, who had started up front alongside Amond, and his replacement Matt almost made an instant impact as he teed up Gorman for a shot that was just wide of the mark from 15 yards.

County didn’t let the Stags rest on their laurels in the closing stages, but they rarely looked like ending their barren run in front of goal and one was enough for the hosts to take all three points.

County: King; Willmott, Inniss, Bennett, Demetriou; Green, Gorman (Dolan, 78), Labadie, Abrahams (Collins, 46); Amond, Waters (Matt, 58)
Subs not used: Howkins, Woodiwiss

Booked: Inniss, Dolan

Referee: Dean Whitestone

Attendance: 3,653 (111 County)

Argus star man: King

-------------------------

The talking points from Mansfield Town 1 Newport County 0
By Andrew Penman
https://www.southwalesargus.co.uk/sport/18238790.talking-points-mansfield-town-1-newport-county-0/

DANNY Rose scored the only goal of the game to condemn Newport County AFC to a 1-0 defeat at Mansfield Town. Here are the talking points...

Conditions made for a grim spectacle

With both sides low on confidence and Storm Dennis wreaking havoc, yesterday’s match always had the look of a scrappy encounter likely to be settled by a mistake.

The Rodney Parade pitch takes a lot of stick but, on this evidence, the Field Mill playing surface is not much better and it made life difficult for both teams.

The swirling wind and driving rain affected the game with passes overhit, balls sticking in the mud and tackles being mistimed and it added to the miserable experience for County and the 111 travelling fans.

Injuries taking their toll

Matty Dolan’s return to fitness meant there were only eight players missing on Saturday and it allowed Michael Flynn to name five out of a possible seven substitutes, including teenagers Lewis Collins and Joe Woodiwiss.

With so many unavailable, Flynn had little option to pick some players out of position and it meant he didn’t have many options to change things with substitutions.

Despite the lack of any recognised full-backs, Otis Khan’s absence was most keenly felt. He was ineligible against his parent club and striker Tristan Abrahams looked lost on the left wing in his place. Flynn may have been better off giving Collins (below) a go from the start.

Play-off hopes fading fast

Having earned 26 points from the first 39 on offer this season, County have only picked up 14 points from the 54 available since beating Scunthorpe United at Rodney Parade on October 19.

Flynn’s men have scored just 27 times in 31 league games and are now without a goal in nearly seven hours of football in League Two.

They failed to register a shot on target at Mansfield and are now 12 points below seventh-placed Colchester United, albeit with three games in hand.

When asked about the play-offs after the match, the Exiles boss admitted that a repeat of last season’s late surge into the top seven looks unlikely and it’s hard to argue with that assessment on current form.

Salford semi is now even bigger

Flynn’s concession that a top-seven finish will be “difficult” surely makes Wednesday’s Leasing.com Trophy semi-final against Salford City even more important than it was.

County know that victory will seal a return to Wembley, a nice payday and the chance to win some silverware.

A win would give the players and fans something to get excited about, while a defeat risks the remainder of the season meandering to a dull conclusion with little at stake.

-------------------


 

Latest | February 2020