Season 07/08 Stagsnet Match Report
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Mansfield Town
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Wycombe Wanderers
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McGleish 5, 69, 73, Jelleyman 58 og.
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Attendance: 1,959 (125 from Wycombe)
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Date: 8 January 2008
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MANSFIELD put on a shocking display of football after the heroics at Brighton.
On a wet cold and extremely windy night Mansfield succumbed to a Team pushing for promotion. Mansfield started with all but one of the eleven that had been part of the great win at Brighton. Bell came in for Hamshaw after Matt decided to stay at home and look after his new born baby. I bet he was glad he did. Mansfield started brightly and after a long clearance from Muggleton the Wycombe fullback and goalkeeper became entangled after they were both undecided on who was going to clear the ball. Brown was quickly on to the error and he shot goalwards towards an empty net. The ball going agonisingly wide as Holmes slid in to try to steer it into the net. Sadly it would be our last chance of a poor display by the whole team. Wycombe then had a bit of fortune themselves when a Scott McGleish header appeared for an eternity to hang in the wind from a corner only for the ball to drop conveniently below the bar and into the net. My heart sank as I realised we have been here before on 14 previous occasions this season and not once have we bounced back to win the game. The first-half saw Wycombe content to see out the half whilst Mansfield resorted to hitting long wind assisted balls into the Wycombe half with little impact. When we did try to play short passes we inevitably passed it to a Wycombe player. Heads amongst the players had already dropped and they looked as if the weather conditions weren’t to their liking. It was going to take an inspired team talk at half-time from Billy to get them playing football in the second half. Billy decided to revert back to his traditional 4-4-2 for the second half with Brown helping Holmes up front. The second half sadly belonged to Wycombe with two goals from McGleish and an own goal from Jellyman adding to the Wycombe scoreline. They could have had more as Mansfield failed to show any commitment in trying to reverse the one goal deficit. After the second goal heads dropped even lower and some fans decided to leave knowing full well there was no way back. When Wycombe scored the third the West Stand began to empty in earnest. The few that remained to the end would witness one of the most shocking displays of football from a Mansfield Team in a long time. Billy did however introduce two of the junior players who unfortunately came on when the more senior players had already given up. What must they have thought when Billy gave them the nod and asked them to get out there and make us look as if we knew what we were doing. It wasn’t fair of Billy to subject them to play in that Team. For Wycombe it was a fifth win in six unbeaten games, for Stags a fifth defeat in six League games and one of their two games in hand on the pack wasted. Highlight of the night the Stags fans chanting “Call it off” as the rain turned to hail. Have things got that bad we need a game to be abandoned to survive. MY STAGS MAN OF THE MATCH: Muggleton – the only one who deserved it |
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Report by: StaginCuckney2 (Ian Newton)
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Line Up:
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Muggleton – 7 – helpless for the first goal and needs a defence for the other 3
Mullins – 5 – Still one of our better players and his head was the last to drop Jelleyman – 5 – played out of position and at times it shows Buxton – 4 – given the run around and he can’t inspire his team mates as Captain Martin – 5 – as good as Mullins on the night and again tried to keep going Arnold – 4 – no effect on the game whatsoever a truly shocking display D'Laryea – 4 – didn’t realise he was playing for most of the game Bell – 4 – lack of fitness showed early on Dawson – 4 – first time I have seen him give up so early in a game Brown – 4 – runs and runs be was not effective, should have scored early on Holmes – 4 – lack of senior football showed and won nothing in the air |
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Sub Line Up:
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Sleath (for Bell, 65) – 7 – came on and tried
Trimmer (for Martin, 72) – 7 – like Sleath he wanted to play but couldn’t do to the more senior players having already given up Subs Not Used: White, Goward, Wood. |
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Opposition Line Up:
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Douglas, Woodman, Johnson, McCracken, Martin, Torres, Holt (Boucaud 76), Doherty (Oakes 77), Bloomfield, McGleish (Knight 75), Sutton. Subs Not Used: Bullock, Stockley.
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Referee:
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Andy Haines (Tyne & Wear)
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