Archived News from October 2020
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STAGS DRAW AT MORECAMBE
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English Football League - Sky Bet League Two
Morecambe 1 - 1 Mansfield Town Phillips 3. Charsley 26 Attendance: behind closed doors Date: 20 October 2020 Martin Shaw at the Mazuma Stadium (formerly Globe Arena) Mansfield Town drew 1-1 at Morecambe last night and are still looking for the first victory of the season. This was an improved performance from the Stags following that terrible showing against Bradford on Saturday and the Stags deserved this point against a Morecambe side who have started the season well and were surprisingly even top of the table before Saturday’s round of matches. One particularly disappointing aspect of Saturday’s defeat was that the players looked a beaten side early in the game. But at Morecambe, despite conceding another early goal, the players showed a battling spirit throughout. The Stags were behind after just 3 minutes. The ball bounced off James Perch in the area to Cole Stockton who was able to find enough space to turn away from Ryan Sweeney and cross a low ball from the right to where Adam Phillips nipped in ahead of Farrend Rawson to stab past Marek Stech from 6 yards. A crushing blow so early in the game and both Sweeney and Rawson could have done better to prevent it. The Stags should have been level after 10 minutes. Stephen McLaughlin’s corner to the far post was headed back across goal by Andy Cook and Sweeney headed over the bar from 3 yards. Sweeney should have scored. A good corner from McLaughlin and a great header back across goal by Cook. The Stags were playing a lot of square balls across the back line in the early part of the game and were nearly made to pay when a square ball from Rollin Menayese was intercepted by Songo’o, and eventually Stockton fired over the bar from 25 yards. With a change in shape to 4 at the back in this game, the Stags were playing with two full backs and two wide midfield players. There was an effort to make more use of the wings and less use of lumping the ball forward. And the Stags equalised on 26 minutes with Kellan Gordon on the right wing getting in a good low cross. The move started on the left with good interplay between George Maris and McLaughlin. Maris played a delightful crossfield pass out to Gordon on the right. Gordon found space to get in a good low cross for Harry Charsley who back-flicked the ball superbly into the bottom left corner of the net from 8 yards. It was a lovely goal, Charsley’s first in senior football. The Stags had a moment of fortune after 29 minutes as McLaughlin made a reckless challenge on John O’Sullivan in the middle of the pitch, making contact with O’Sullivan’s chest with a very high boot. It should have been a red card, but the Stags were lucky that the referee only produced a yellow. Morecambe had a chance to go back in front after 33 minutes as Sweeney missed getting a header away and allowed Stockton to get down the right. Stockton’s low ball across the six yard box was just in front of Aaron Wildig charging in towards goal. As was the case for the Morecambe goal, Sweeney should have done better. All square at the break. After 51 minutes, McLaughlin was fouled 27 yards from goal. He took the resulting free kick himself and curled it towards the bottom left corner of the net where the keeper made a very good save turning it around the post. At the other end 4 minutes later, Marek Stech made a truly outstanding save justifying his selection in the side. Wildig crossed from the left, and Stockton got away from Sweeney to power a firm header towards the top left corner of the net. Stech somehow reached it with a strong right hand to push it away. Incredible save. Morecambe wanted a penalty after 56 minutes as Stockton went down under a challenge from Menayese in the area. From the video it is inconclusive. The referee wasn’t interested anyway. A minute after that, Phillips had a free shot from the edge of the area which was over the bar. The Stags were under pressure but survived that 5 minutes spell. Tyrese Sinclair replaced McLaughlin after 70 minutes and started to make things happen. After 81 minutes he won a free kick on the right. O’Keeffe took it and curled a high ball beyond the far post. Rawson won the header and headed down into the net but the referee blew for a foul by Rawson to disallow the goal. The Stags were furious. From the replay, I think the goal was harshly ruled out. Sinclair won another free kick after 88 minutes. O’Keeffe found Rawson again with his kick but this time Rawson headed wide. A fair result with the points shared. So the Stags are still without a win after 7 league games. Football is a results business and manager Graham Coughlan clearly needs wins quickly. If the Stags are in or around the relegation zone with about 10 games gone, the time at which the league table really starts to take shape, owners John and Carolyn Radford with CEO David Sharpe may decide that action needs to be taken, even though John and Carolyn are well-known for wanting to give managers every chance to succeed. Coughlan probably needs a couple of wins in the next 3 games or so. Mansfield came into the game with just 3 points from 6 games, the club’s worst start to a season for nearly 50 years since 1971 when the Stags had just 1 point after 6 games. However Mansfield had a good record at the Globe Arena (now renamed Mazuma Stadium), and had won 5 of the 7 games between the sides here since returning to the Football League. Morecambe had had a surprisingly good start to the season. Before Saturday’s defeat at Crawley they were top of the League Two, though bizarrely with a negative goal difference, and they were the first team to top any of the 4 English top tiers with a negative goal difference for nearly 30 years. The Stags made three changes to the side that lost to Bradford. Gordon, Charsley and Cook came in for Lapslie (suspended), Bowery and Maynard. It was a 4-5-1 formation with Menayese at right back, O’Keeffe at left back, Gordon in right midfield, McLaughlin in left midfield, Perch in front of the back four, with Charsley and Maris behind Cook up front. Mal Benning was left out of the squad as a precaution advised by the club doctor. In the current Covid-19 pandemic, there was no indication whether this precaution related to Covid or not, but either way, hopefully Mal will be feeling better very soon. Coughlan explained that they had worked on this formation on Sunday and Monday and that Benning would have played. Coughlan added that he had to play a centre half at right back and a right back at left back. I conclude from this that Benning would have played at left back, O’Keeffe would have played at right back, and one of the centre backs would have dropped out (most likely Rawson or Menayese). Marek Stech kept his place in the side despite a catastrophic error against Bradford and in truth, he has made too many errors this season. It was a brave call to keep him in the side, but Stech repaid the manager with a good performance and one truly outstanding save. Ollie Clarke remained out through injury. Regularly the Stags’ visits to Morecambe in recent seasons have seen poor weather. But this time it had been a lovely sunny day, and it was a pleasant, mild evening with no wind. Perfect conditions for football. FULL REPORT IN THE MATCH CENTRE ------------------------- Mansfield Town's winless start goes on after draw at Morecambe chad.co.uk The pressure mounted on under-fire boss Graham Coughlan after Mansfield’s winless start to the season stretched to seven games. Harry Charsley picked up his first goal for the club to secure a point after Adam Phillips’ early opener at the Globe Arena. https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-towns-winless-start-goes-after-draw-morecambe-3009856 Coughlan made three changes to the side lost 3-1 at home to Bradford at the weekend.Charsley, Kellan Gordon and Andy Cook started in place of Nicky Maynard and Jordan Bowery with George Lapslie suspended after his debut sending off.Mal Benning failed to make the trip as an injury precaution. Any hopes of a fast start were swept aside as the hosts went ahead after just three minutes.Cole Stockton did well down the right-hand side to leave Phillips an easy finish to bag his fifth goal of the campaign. The Stags almost quickly levelled as Ryan Sweeney’s header went just over after Cook nodded down Stephen McLaughlin’s corner. But the visitors found the equaliser in the 26th minute.Gordon’s fizzed ball was nonchalantly flicked into the far corner by Charsley.The Shrimps came closest to a second before the break as a sprawling Aaron Wildig failed to get on the end of Stockton’s cross. Coughlan’s charges made a brighter start to the second half than the first.McLaughlin went mightily close to putting the Stags ahead with Jake Turner producing a good save to tip his free-kick past the post.Down the other end Marek Stech pulled off a super stop of his own as he kept out Stockton’s header.Around the hour mark Phillips fired over in his search for a second, with Cook nodding over the bar for the Stags. The visitor’s defence did well to keep out Wildig’s strike with just ten minutes remaining. Farrend Rawson thought he’d won it late on before the goal was ruled out for a foul. Morecambe: Turner, Knight-Percival, Lavelle, Cooney (Hendrie, 85), Gibson (Mellor, 60), Diagouraga, Wildig, O'Sullivan, Phillips (Slew, 76), Songo'o, Stockton. Unused subs: Halstead, McAlinden, Pringle, Leitch-Smith. ----------------------- MORECAMBE 1-1 MANSFIELD TOWN https://www.morecambefc.com/news/2020/october/morecambe-1-1-mansfield-town/ MORECAMBE picked up their first draw of the campaign as they were held by Mansfield at the Mazuma Stadium. The Shrimps enjoyed the perfect start with Adam Phillips giving them the lead in only the third minute only for the visitors to pull level with a goal from Harry Charsley on 25 minutes. Boss Derek Adams made three changes to the side that lost 4-0 at Crawley Town with injuries ruling out Alex Kenyon and Carlos Mendes-Gomes and Harry Davis forced to self isolate after contact with an ill person. In came Nat Knight-Percival, Toumani Diagouraga and Yann Songo’o who made his first league start for the Shrimps. Adams’s side had the best start possible as they took an early lead. Cole Stockton did well to hold the ball up down the right and put in a dangerous cross which found Phillips who scored his fifth of the season from close range. Mansfield found an equaliser on 26 minutes. The dangerous Kelland Gordon beat Liam Gibson down the right and his low cross was met by Charsley whose half hit effort squirmed into the bottom right-hand corner of Jake Turner’s goal. Mansfield were then fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men when Stephen McLaughlin was only cautioned for a dangerously high tackle on John O’Sullivan before the break. Morecambe ended the half on top and Stockton again provided a telling cross into the area but it was just too far ahead of the stretching Aaron Wildig at the far post. The second half saw both sides have early chances. Mansfield had the first effort on 50 minutes with McLaughlin’s free-kick forcing a full stretch save from Jake Turner before the Shrimps went close when Wildig's cross was met by Stockton only for Marek Stech to pull off a fine save. Seconds later, Phillips sent in a first-time effort which narrowly cleared the woodwork. Despite the best efforts of Derek Adams' side, they couldn't find the winning goal as the game ended one-a-piece. Morecambe: Turner, Cooney (Hendrie 85), Knight-Percival, Lavelle, Gibson (Mellor 60), Songo’o, Diagouraga, O’Sullivan, Wildig, Phillips (Slew 76), Stockton. Subs not used: Halstead, Leitch-Smith, Pringle, McAlinden. Mansfield Town: Stech, Menayese, Rawson, Sweeney, O’Keeffe, Perch, Maris, McLaughlin (Sinclair 70), Gordon, Charsley, Cook (Bowery 73). Subs not used: Stone, O’Driscoll, Reid, Maynard, Smith. Referee: Marc Edwards. ---------------------- Morecambe 1 Mansfield Town 1: Shrimps and Stags share the spoils lancasterguardian.co.uk, By Gavin Browne, Tuesday, 20th October 2020 Honours ended even at the Mazuma Stadium as Morecambe and Mansfield Town played out an entertaining draw. Adam Phillips had given Derek Adams’ Shrimps players a dream start with a third minute goal, only for Harry Charsley to level midway through the half. Adams had made three changes to the side beaten 4-0 at Crawley Town 72 hours earlier. In came Nat Knight-Percival, Yann Songo’o and Toumani Diagouraga with Harry Davis, Alex Kenyon and Carlos Mendes-Gomes the men to make way. https://www.lancasterguardian.co.uk/sport/football/morecambe-1-mansfield-town-1-shrimps-and-stags-share-spoils-3009857 Looking for back-to-back home wins for the first time since winning three in a row in March 2019, the Shrimps had the ideal start. A throw-in reached Cole Stockton, who held off his marker, drove into the box and squared for Phillips to score his fifth of the season from close range. Mansfield had gone into the game sitting second-bottom of the table but they should have drawn level on nine minutes. Andy Cook sent Stephen McLaughlin’s inswinging corner back across the face of goal but Ryan Sweeney could only head over when well placed. An open game saw Stockton shoot over from 20 yards before Mansfield drew level on 26 minutes. Kelland Gordon received the ball on the right-hand side, got the better of Liam Gibson and his cross was converted by Charsley. That said, they were lucky to avoid being down to 10 men moments later as McLaughlin was only cautioned when his raised foot made contact with O’Sullivan’s upper body. Seconds after that and Morecambe were inches away from leading again. Sweeney made a mess of a high ball, allowing Stockton to race into the area but, on this occasion, his cross was just too far ahead of the stretching Aaron Wildig. The second half started in the same vein with both sides having opportunities inside the opening 10 minutes. Mansfield had the first effort on 50 minutes, McLaughlin’s free-kick being tipped behind by Shrimps keeper Jake Turner. Play switched to the other end where Morecambe seized upon a loose clearance and Wildig crossed for Stockton, whose header was well saved by Marek Stech. Seconds later, Phillips sent in a first-time effort which narrowly cleared the woodwork. Both sides took the opportunity to refresh their line-ups as the half progressed with one goal increasingly looking like it would make all the difference. Ryan Cooney chanced his arm from distance but his curling effort was always drifting off target. It was the visitors who came closest late on when Farrend Rawson headed in Corey O’Keeffe’s free-kick but, to the Shrimps’ relief, referee Marc Edwards ruled there had been a push. That was as near as either side came to scoring again as, despite four minutes of added time, the spoils were shared. Morecambe: Turner, Cooney (Hendrie 85), Knight-Percival, Lavelle, Gibson (Mellor 60), Songo’o, Diagouraga, O’Sullivan, Wildig, Phillips (Slew 76), Stockton. Subs not used: Halstead, Leitch-Smith, Pringle, McAlinden. Mansfield Town: Stech, Menayese, Rawson, Sweeney, O’Keeffe, Perch, Maris, McLaughlin (Sinclair 70), Gordon, Charsley, Cook (Bowery 73). Subs not used: Stone, O’Driscoll, Reid, Maynard, Smith. Referee: Marc Edwards. ---------------------- |
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