Morecambe Matchzone

Mansfield Town 1:0 Morecambe

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Bad result – Even Worse Game at Mansfield

Morecambe travelled to Nottinghamshire today to face one of the teams perennially tipped by the so-called `experts’ for promotion, Mansfield Town. As usual, the same people advised all and sundry to bet on the fact that the Shrimps would be relegated this season.  Yet before the game – and with over half the season played – the Stags were nineteenth in League Two whereas Morecambe were fourth.

In recent years, Town have had a very chequered history. It seemed that a corner had been turned when current owner John Radford bought the club nine years ago. Before then – following a period in the non-league wilderness – financial problems at Mansfield Town were such that they had been locked-out of their own ground for non-payment of rent. Stags’ fans still celebrate the day Mr Radford transformed the ownership issue – March 1st 2012 – as `Amber Day’. Amber was expected to change to Green for Go as a brighter future for the club was seemingly dawning with the appointment of ex-Bury and actual Swindon Manager David Flitcroft during 2018. The following year, he took Town to the League Two Play-Offs. But having fallen at the first hurdle after a penalty shoot-out to Newport County, David Flitcroft was unceremoniously sacked. More fool Mansfield – since then, the club has gone backwards. Nigel Clough was brought-in last November to stop the rot.  The impact was immediate: they were unbeaten in his first six games and started winning straight away. In his first game in charge, Mansfield were victorious at promotion-chasing Forest Green and two games later, they beat sleeping giants Sunderland in the FA Cup away from home. When The Son of Brian arrived, the Stags were third from the bottom of the league. But by the end of January, they had risen to the heady heights of lucky thirteenth in the table. Since then, though, the wheels have well and truly fallen off: Mansfield started today’s match on the back of three straight defeats and no wins in their last five league games. In previous contests with Morecambe, Town have won half of the eighteen games and lost six of them.

Morecambe went into the game, on the other hand, on the back of two wins and two draws in the last five league games. They overcame Salford City in spectacular fashion last Tuesday back in Lancashire, coming from behind to win the game with two goals in injury time at the end of the match. Mansfield, meanwhile, were losing for the second time this season to new-boys Harrogate Town in Yorkshire. Their Manager said after the game:

“When we won the first five games, I said that confidence in football is unbelievably fragile. You only have to look at the top level for that. Liverpool were on an incredible record-breaking run last season; now they’re on the worst home run for a hundred years. That’s what it is like in football.”

Mr Clough was unable to select George Lapslie or Joe Riley today due to injury. With the FA yet to set a date for a disciplinary hearing, Derek Adams was able to select Yann Songo’o again today. He thus had less need to shuffle his pack from Tuesday night’s line-up: Nathaniel Knight-Percival, who was hurt during the game, was replaced by Harry Davis

Prior to the game, the Morecambe Manager said:

“Mansfield had a very good run. I watched them a couple of games back when they lost at home to Bolton and I thought they played really well on the night. Nigel Clough has gone in there back in November but I thought they were always a good side under Graham Coughlan. I thought Graham was hard done by to lose his job, but Nigel has come in and changed things about and they have been able to pick up some good results.”

Would they get back to winning ways today?

It was dry and actually sunny when the game kicked-off in Nottinghamshire. The Stags – who are a physically big team – went onto the front foot right from the start. This didn’t look like a side short of confidence and they would have taken the lead after just two minutesexcept that Jordan Bowery’s powerful shot from the Mansfield left was brilliantly stopped high to his left by Kyle Letheren only for Jamie Reid to head the rebound away from the target when it seemed easier to bury it. Although were no clear chances for the home side for a while after that, they were definitely the livelier team for the opening ten minutes or so. Morecambe seemed content to break-up the play and hoof hopeful balls forward which they generally soon found being funnelled back towards them. But after seventeen minutes, Cole Stockton was set free following an interception, carried the ball forward and passed to Carlos Mendes-Gomes, whose effort was blocked. Then Toumani Diagouraga also fluffed his lines when the ball was headed back to him in the Stags’ penalty area: his shot was cleared for a corner. Aiden Stone then gathered a looping header from a free kick easily enough after 22 minutes. Mansfield still were enjoying most of the possession though and Letheren was the next goalkeeper to make a save: gathering a cross from a corner which was initially played low and short from the Town left after just over half an hour. But the key moment of the half arrived after thirty-eight minutes. After Harry Davis had blocked an attempt from another Mansfield corner, the ball was fed back to Stephen Quinn on the Stags’ left. He threw Sully a peach of a dummy, turned inside him and whipped a cross over which Bowery was the first to reach. With a flick of his leg, he turned the ball in at the near post to give the home side the lead. It was a poor goal to concede but the visitors never looked like they were going to pull the goal back by the time the end of the half arrived.

It had been a game of very few chances and little skill from either side so far. But the second half was even worse. Kick & Rush was the order of the day; there were virtually no chances and precious little skill. Forty- nine minutes of football – and virtually no action to report. After 55 minutes, a weak shot came in from the Mansfield left which Letheren caught easily enough. It was half an hour before he had to make another save. This time, it was another weak attempt: a header straight into his arms following a corner. In the meantime, seventy-eight minutes had been played when Carlos headed the ball into the Town penalty are and chased after it before Stone ambled from his goal and collected it without any undue fuss. In injury time, the same Shrimps’ player cleverly found A-Jay Leitch-Smith with a beautifully-judged lob but the ring-rusty substitute was unable to connect with it properly.

And that was the sum total of Morecambe’s attempts today. Collectively, they just didn’t turn up: apart from Kyle Letheren, nobody played well. And Mansfield were little better, particularly in the second half when they also looked like a really poor side. The very disappointing result meant that Mansfield shot up to sixteenth in the table at the very welcome end of this utter bore. Morecambe meanwhile slipped to fifth.

Mansfield Town:  31 Aidan Stone; 12 Kellan Gordon (Y); 6 Farrend Rawson; 5 Ryan Sweeney (Y); 3 Malvind Benning; 10 George Maris; 8 Ollie Clarke (C); 16 Stephen Quinn; 29 Jason Law (7 Henry Charsley 91’); 19 Jamie Reid; 9 Jordan Bowery.

Subs not used:  1 Marek Ŝtêch; 2 Corey O’Keeffe; 14 James Perch; 21 James Clarke; 23 Jake Wright; 27 Tyrese Sinclair.

Morecambe:   1 Kyle Letheren; 2 Kelvin Mellor; 6 Harry Davis; 5 Sam Lavelle (C) (Y); 8 Toumani Diagouraga (15 Brad Lyons 65’); 9 Cole Stockton; 10 Aaron Wildig; 11 Carlos Mendes-Gomes (Y); 16 John O’Sullivan (19 Liam McAlinden 80’); 22 Liam Gibson (3 Stephen Hendrie 53’); 24 Yann Songo’o  (17 A-Jay Leitch-Smith 80’).

Subs not used:  12 Mark Halstead; 7 Jordan Slew; 21 Ryan Cooney.

Ref: Anthony Backhouse.

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