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The Stags visited Bloomfield Road without several injured players. Central defenders Stuart Hicks and Adam Barrett were missing, along with the suspended Mark Blake. In came on loan central defender Stuart Reddington who joined the Stags a day earlier from Chelsea. Left on the bench were wingers Wayne Corden and Lee Williams as the Stags switched to the young players to halt a run of three successive defeats. Lee Williamson played on the right in a 4-5-1 formation with the exciting Liam Lawrence playing just behind striker Chris Greenacre. The average age of the Stags starting line-up was just 23, which dropped to just 20 if the experienced Mimms and Robinson were taken out of the calculation. Steve McMahon's side included experienced midfield duo Paul Simpson and Mike Milligan, both were excellent in the Seasiders 1-0 win at Field Mill earlier in the season. The
Stags started brightly and took a deserved lead on three minutes.
Lee Williamson picked the ball up in midfield from a Lawrence pass and
threaded a superb pass to Craig Disley who was just about to shoot on
goal when he was tripped by Daniel Shittu, on Stags
again started the new half brightly and again were rewarded with a goal,
once more it was the lethal Greenacre who scored. Williamson's
clever corner found Lawrence on the edge of the box, his first time shot
flew into the area where Greenacre pounced on a deflection to poke the
ball past Barnes in the Blackpool goal. The young Stags side were
again well on top and trickery from Lawrence, outstanding again, almost
gave the Stags a third, this time he fired just wide. The Stags
midfield were winning every loose ball and Clarke and Jervis were
combining well down the Stags left and Hassell was prominent in his
defensive midfield Man of the Match: Craig Disley |
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Attendance: 5, 241 Blackpool: Barnes , Coid , Reid , Shittu , Jaszczun , Collins , Wellens (Bushell 59) , Milligan (Walker 72) , Simpson , Murphy J , Ormerod. Subs not used: Kennedy , Hughes , Clarkson Mansfield Town: Mimms, Asher, Hassell, Robinson, Reddington, Clarke, Disley, Greenacre, Jervis, Williamson, Lawrence. Subs not used: Andrews , Williams , Corden , Boulding , Pilkington Referee: R Beeby (Northampton) |
loan at Blackpool from
Charlton. The referee awarded the penalty but somewhat
surprisingly took no action against the Pool defender who had clearly
denied a goal scoring opportunity for Disley. Top scorer Chris
Greenacre clinically fired home the spot kick. The Stags
youngsters were playing some very neat football, with Craig Disley very prominent
in almost every attacking move. Several times Disley broke free on
the right but on each occasion had his attempted cross blocked. On
20 minutes Lawrence neatly found Greenacre inside the area but sadly the
Stags striker first touch was a poor one and he lost possession, he
fouled Shittu in his attempt to regain possession and despite putting
the ball in the net the free kick was awarded to the home side.
Blackpool rarely threatened and the young Stags defenders, especially
Dave Jervis handled things well. Stuart Reddington was having a
decent debut but was probably at fault when Blackpool grabbed an
undeserved equaliser just before half time. The ball was swung in
from the left by Paul Simpson and Murphy rose above Reddington to head
past Mimms. The Stags were unfortunate not to go in ahead at half
time.
role. Blackpool's frustration boiled over with
just over five minutes to go when Pool skipper Reid grabbed Disley by
the neck after the young midfielder had hold of the ball.
Incredibly, Disley was booked for being strangled whilst Reid was
fortunate that he only received a yellow card for his behaviour.
It looked as though the Stags were going to hold out for a deserved
victory as Blackpool switched to a more direct style of play.
However, with just three minutes remaining the Stags were undone by a
long Barnes goal kick was headed on by John Murphy and Brett Ormerod
fired past the helpless Mimms to grab a point for the home side.