Archived News from December 2020
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CLOUGH AND MARK BONNER REACTION
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A perfect away performance, says manager
02 December 2020 Boss Nigel Clough says he was ‘heartened by everything’ in Mansfield Town’s excellent win away at high-flying Cambridge United this evening. In an entertaining affair at Abbey Stadium, it was striker Jamie Reid’s goal on 64 minutes that ensured all three points would be heading back to Nottinghamshire. The manager says performances like tonight’s give the Stags a ‘template’ for how to win games away from home. “I think it was [the perfect away performance], bar being a little bit greedy to go and get that second goal,” he told iFollow Stags. “We came out to attack and I thought we did that really well in the first 15 minutes of the game. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2020/december/nigel-clough-post-cambridge/ “We got pushed back a bit, but came out similarly in the second-half and got the goal. Jamie Reid had a great chance just before [his goal], and we said to him ‘there’s a goal out there for you tonight.’ “It’s a great striker’s finish [from Reid]. It’s half a turn then he puts it in the bottom corner, and we looked after that lead from there. "Considering we were missing Rawson and Perch who've been our two first choice centre halves ... for Rollin [Menayese] and Ryan [Sweeney] to come in, with both unfortunate to be booked in the first-half, defended magnificently in the second-half. "Rollin hasn't been making the squad of late. But when you lose two centre-halves as we did then he's in contention. It was a toss-up between him and Aaron O'Driscoll, we just wanted a bit more height and pace and of course Rollin's got a bit more experience. “I’m heartened by everything tonight. We had 15 shots each and possession will have been pretty even. I thought we looked as big a threat as them tonight. That’s the pleasing thing. “The win gives us a boost and gets us up that table a little bit. We’ve got an awful lot of hard work to do in the next five months, but performances like this give us a template of what we’re looking for away from home.” Nigel Clough also discussed a change of formation this evening, with his side operating in a 4-3-3 system. “We’ve played it [4-3-3] with teams that we’ve been at because we enjoy it,” he added. “It gives us that balance and defensive solidity with three in midfield. “You must have legs in midfield, good wide men and a centre forward who can get on the ball up front and is capable of getting a goal. “Some people might say that we have to have two up front, but I think you can create as many, if not more, chances playing that way. “I think Jordan Bowery has had as many chances playing wide than he has down the middle. It was a nice balance for the team tonight, but it might change on Saturday.” This evening’s contest was played in front of just under 2,000 home supporters at Abbey Stadium, and the boss says he ‘can’t wait’ for fans to one day return to One Call Stadium. “It was a bit strange. I’ve not had some stick from behind the dugout in a few months, so to hear one or two comments was nice! “We’ve certainly missed the supporters and we can’t wait until we get some in at Field Mill. Mark Stevenson interjects: "One Call Stadium. The chairman will be sending you a letter on that!” Clough: "I'm sorry chairman, yes, One Call Stadium." --------------------- John Radford on facebook: I think that slip of the tongue can be overlooked (smiley face emoji). Well done to Nigel and the boys. An excellent performance and result against a team riding high in the table. Onwards and upwards! COYS!!! --------------------- Nigel Clough told BBC Radio Nottingham: "I've think we've had 15 shots each team. Coming here we didn't want to be negative. "We wanted to have a look at the 4-3-3 system. We played it for the second half and extra-time against Dagenham. We thought it worked quite well. We think George Maris, Ollie Clarke and George Lapslie are a good three in there. With Jordan Bowery out on the left and Harry on the right. And we fancied Jamie Reid with his pace and movement to get us a goal tonight." ------------------- Cambridge United were lacking in quality against Mansfield Town, says Mark Bonner cambridgeindependent.co.uk, By Mark Taylor, 02 December 2020 Mark Bonner felt Cambridge United were lacking in quality in their 1-0 defeat to Mansfield Town in Sky Bet League Two. They lost their first home league game of the season to Jamie Reid’s second-half goal, having not got into their usual fluid rhythm. However, Mansfield keeper Marek Stech had to produce two brilliant saves to deny Robbie Cundy and Paul Mullin, while Joe Ironside also went close. “We had a couple of moments in the second half that maybe we could have scored from and got something out of the game, but in the end it was a bit of a disappointing performance from us and we lacked a bit of quality with the ball at times," said the U's head coach. “We probably didn’t deserve anything from the game. “We wanted to protect (that record) but the only thing you can do now is react and respond in the right way, and try to be a team that goes on runs of results. https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/sport/cambridge-united-were-lacking-in-quality-against-mansfield-town-says-mark-bonner-9143787/ “There is no huge drama but we know we’re a better team than we showed. “We just didn’t have enough quality or intensity in our game at times without the ball, and quality with the ball to make enough out of it. “Overall, the stats look fairly even but they probably ended up with better chances than we did. “In the end, we got a little bit stretched, it became a little bit messy, we got counter-attacked against too easily and we made too many poor decisions on the ball and turned the ball over in the attacking half too often and started getting counter-attacked too often. “It became a little bit disjointed and a little bit stretched and that’s frustrating for us.” United’s rhythm suffered a setback in the first half when Hiram Boateng went off injured. He was fouled by Rollin Menayese, and left the field clutching his shoulder to be taken by ambulance straight to hospital. “We felt his loss when he came off the pitch,” said Bonner. “I thought we were getting some good control at that time, and he was linking the game nicely for us and running past people. “We lost a little bit of that power and urgency in midfield.” Mansfield’s lowly-position in the table belies their form. Since Nigel Clough was appointed manager, they have now only lost one of their last seven games. The result against the U’s helped them climb out of the relegation zone and up to 19th in the table. “They’ve had a good upturn in form since Nigel has gone in there, and they’ve got some good players in that team,” said Bonner. “They won’t be in the level of the league that they are for too much longer. I’m sure they will put some consecutive results together and start climbing some places. “It was a bit like when we played Bolton here and we played Tranmere here, we knew they were in a false position and Mansfield are as well. This league is very even, and games are very tight. “Overall, you’ve got to be better than we were to make sure you take something from the game. In the end, we’ve only got ourselves to blame for not doing that.” ------------------------- Paul Digby urges Cambridge United to bounce back quickly from defeat to Mansfield in Sky Bet League Two cambridgeindependent.co.uk, By Mark Taylor, 02 December 2020 Paul Digby wants to see Cambridge United bounce back after their unbeaten Sky Bet League Two home form was brought to an end by Mansfield Town on Wednesday night. It was not the homecoming that supporters wanted on their return to a league match at the Abbey Stadium for the first time since February, with Jamie Reid’s second-half goal proving decisive. “The result was disappointing but we’ve got a lot of games coming up so you haven’t got time to get down and we’ve just got to bounce back quickly,” said midfielder Digby. “We still had chances, and I think their keeper has pulled off a few good saves. But we need to put them away which is what we’ve been really good at all season so far. https://www.cambridgeindependent.co.uk/sport/paul-digby-urges-cambridge-united-to-bounce-back-quickly-from-defeat-to-mansfield-9143796/ “We’re going to have different challenges as the season goes along and we need to rise to it because we are good enough to do that.” United have the perfect opportunity to get back to winning ways when they host Oldham Athletic on Saturday (December 5), with fans again in attendance. “The support was fantastic, and that’s almost the hard thing to take that we couldn’t quite get the result for the fans to have them back in,” said Digby. “We’ve got to stay positive now, and we’ve got to bounce back. We have a lot of games coming up, and we’ve got to get results.” United have five matches before Christmas, having only had one in their previous 17 days prior to the clash with Mansfield - after the Southend game was postponed. “It’s been a bit of a funny time,” said Digby. “There are no excuses obviously but we’ve had a bit more time off than maybe we would have liked, with the Southend game being called off, but we need to get back to it now. “We’ve had such a good start and we need to just build on that now.” He added: “No excuses, we just need to be better on Saturday.” -------------------- social media Marek Stech @Stechy100 Brilliant away performance and a clean sheet @mansfieldtownfc #Stags David Sharpe @DavidSharpe91 Huge 3 points!! All the boys were brilliant from back to front. Particularly delighted for Reidy! 4 away wins on the spin! #UpTheStags ------------------- |
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