Mansfield Minefield at the Globe.
Mansfield Town made the long journey from Nottinghamshire today to try and dent Morecambe’s hopes of getting further away from the bottom of the League Two table, where only Stevenage lay between them and the Outer Darkness of the National League. Graham Coughlan’s team arrived just two places but five points better-off in the division and on the back of one wins and three losses in their last five league games. The only draw in this time was last Saturday, when they let a two-goal lead against Carlisle United slip at home only to draw 2-2.
The Stags were among the favourites to challenge for promotion to League One at the beginning of the season. However, following the sacking of popular Manager David Flitcroft after Town lost the Play-Off final to Tranmere last summer, fans and a Board which is currently being re-vamped at Field Mill must be rueing that decision. Be Careful What You Hope for indeed…
In previous meetings, there has only been one draw and that happened at Field Mill last August when the sides shared four goals between them. Before this, they had met fifteen times before, with the Stags winning nine of them.
For the visitors, Alex MacDonald – injured last time out against Carlisle – was replaced by Willem Tomlinson. Ryan Cooney and John O’Sullivan both returned after injury for the Shrimps.
It was cold, windy but bright for most of the game before the latest storm to cross the Atlantic started to show its teeth right at the end of the game and freezing rain started to fall from the darkness above.
There wasn’t much to report in the opening minutes with probably the most interesting thing the pretty startling turquoise(y) kit the visitors were wearing. Cole Stockton had a free run on goal from a central position after 14 minutes. He missed the target but the whistle had already been blown because he was clearly offside. John O’Sullivan and Adam Phillips combined intelligently on the Shrimps’ right after twenty minutes or so but the move came to nothing. This was the pattern of the first half: Mansfield held back; Morecambe had the majority of the possession but chances were few and far between.
Phillips stretched to get the ball in front of goal after 21 minutes but couldn’t connect properly and visiting goalkeeper Robert Olejnik gathered the ball easily enough. It seemed to me – and most other Morecambe fans in the ground – that Town’s central defender and captain Krystian Pearce handled the ball in the penalty area when blocking a shot with twenty-four minutes played but Referee Scott Oldham was having none of it. A pretty poor game was summed-up by the dead-ball kicks taken by Jordan Cranston. With twenty-four minutes played, he hoofed a corner from the Shrimps’ left straight out of play on the other side of the goal. Just before the break, he completely wasted a free-kick from a promising position with another over-hit ball. The closest either team came to scoring was with thirty-three minutes played: Phillips got his head to the ball but Pearce and his goalkeeper did just enough to stop it ending-up in the net. Having said that, Kelland Watts could have put the visitors ahead after 38 minutes when he had a clear header when a ball bounced-up right in front of him in the home penalty area: Christoffer Mafoumbi did well to keep his slightly mis-timed effort out of the net. So the game ended goal-less after 45 minutes.
The first good chance of the second half fell to the home team. Stockton barged his way into the penalty area and unleashed a shot which was blocked only for the ball to fall kindly for him again. But he failed to connect properly and the chance was lost. Fifty-four minutes were on the clock when – out of nothing – Ryan Sweeney conjured a shot which was cleared off the Morecambe line by a rapidly back-pedalling defender. Just four minutes later, though, the hosts fell behind. Following a set-piece, Pearce’s effort was brilliantly saved by Mafoumbi but his defence were too slow to react to the second ball and Joe Riley was able to gleefully sweep it home. Derek Adams shuffled his pack shortly after this and Alex Kenyon announced his presence with a powerful shot which was sadly straight at Olejnik with just over an hour played. Stockton then blasted a shot right over the roof of the home stand five minutes later. A minute after that, the visitors came within a whisker of extending their lead: Riley swung over a perfect cross which Nicky Maynard contrived to head wide of the target.
It was a let-off which Mansfield were to come to regret. Almost immediately, they could have found themselves level again. Their goalkeeper fumbled a low cross; the ball went up into the air and landed in front of Stockton – and again, the big striker’s effort was completely mis-hit. Town continued to play effectively on the break and the Shrimps looked totally dis-organised and sometimes panic-stricken at the back. But they clawed their way back into the game after 84 minutes.
In the lead-up to this, there seemed to be another clear hand-ball in the Mansfield area by one of their muscular defenders. But the officials just gave a corner. The ball came over, Kenyon appeared in the right place at the right time and booted the ball into the back of the net.
From then on in, only one team was going to win it. Official Man-of-the-Match Ryan Cooney brilliantly intercepted the ball and rushed up the Morecambe right to deliver a cross which went for a goal kick when better things might have happened in injury time. But an absolutely golden chance to sew-up all three points arrived even later than this. Cooney again did well to get the ball into the Mansfield penalty area, where it fell to unmarked sub Jordan Slew. Virtually any connection would have meant a goal. But he allowed the ball to bounce away from him and then slashed at it only for Olejnik to again provide a key save at a vital moment.
So the game ended – probably fairly – all-square. Elsewhere, Stevenage were losing again – 2-1 at Exeter. So a point was a lot better than nothing today in the minefield at the bottom of the EFL. Borough stay bottom, now five whole precious points behind the Shrimps – who are just one place above them. With even more trouble brewing at poor old Macclesfield – who nevertheless managed a commendable 1-1 draw in Leyton today – Derek Adams can breathe a little more easily tonight. Mansfield, in the meantime, remained in twenty-first place.
Morecambe: 37 Christoffer Mafoumbi; 30 Ryan Cooney; 7 John O’Sullivan (4 Alex Kenyon 61’); 33 Jordan Cranston; 5 Steven Old; 16 Sam Lavelle (C); 31 Adam Phillips; 15 Aaron Wildig (29 Jordan Slew 71’); 32 Toumani Diagouraga 19 Carlos Mendes-Gomes (27 Christian Mbulu 71’); 9 Cole Stockton.
Subs not used: 21 Mark Halstead; 3 Luke Conlan; 27 Harvey Bradbury.
Mansfield Town: 12 Bobby Olejnik; 15 Kelland Watts (Y); 5 Krystian Pearce(C); 17 Ryan Sweeney; 18 Joe Riley (21 James Clarke 82’); 6 Neal Bishop; 16 Willem Tomlinson; 3 Malvind Benning; 23 Henry Charsley; 32 Danny Rose (9 Craig Davies 92’); 11 Nicky Maynard (22 C.J. Hamilton 76’).
Subs not used: 31 Aiden Stone; 4 Matt Preston; 28 Jimmy Knowles; 14 Jack Evans.
Ref: Scott Oldham.
1965 (337)
