By Martin Shaw at Underhill

Mansfield Town again showed their fighting spirit to gain a battling draw at sunny Underhill. After taking the lead early on through another fabulous long-range strike, this time from Mark Blake and this time from 37 yards, Stags found themselves 3-1 down at half time to rampant Barnet. But a terrific second half fight-back with goals from Clarke and Greenacre ensured another point for the Stags.

Mansfield have now gained two draws from their opening two games in matches where they have trailed in both. This is in contrast to last season, when Stags lost every single match in which they had trailed, apart from gaining one draw against Leyton Orient.

Mansfield were unchanged from the team who played at Cheltenham with Ian Bowling retaining his place in goal. Playing for the first time in the new away strip, which is predominantly white with a purple side panel, Stags took the lead after just 4 minutes and it was another contender for goal of the season. Last week Chris Greenacre scored from 45.5 yards. This week, it was Mark Blake from fully 37 yards who shot whilst he seemed to be in mid-air and the ball looped up high and over keeper Lee Harrison and into the net. Stags fans simply could not believe that lightening had struck twice in 2 weeks. Later on in the half, keeper Harrison in some good-humoured banter with the Stags crowd, said he was surprised at the strike because he was looking out for Greenacre to have a shot.

Barnet then put Stags under pressure and after 20 minutes, in a goalmouth scramble, Stags cleared the ball off the line and away for a corner. But Stags relief did not last long. From the corner, the ball was charged down to Barnet midfielder Brown on the edge of the box. His left-footed shot was clearly going wide until it struck Mark Arber and deflected into the net for a lucky goal.

Stags were suddenly under the cosh and within 5 minutes, Barnet were in front. John Doolan crossed from the right and Barnet defender Sam Stockley dived to send a looping header just over Ian Bowling`s outstretched hand and into the net. After the game, Stockley admitted he had not headed the ball as he had intended but was relieved to see the ball loop over the keeper and into the net. Just five minutes later, Barnet were further in front following some terrible defending from Alistair Asher. A cross was played in from the right hand side and Asher just stood leaden-footed as Barnet striker Scott McGleish nipped in front of Asher to head in from three yards. It rounded off a poor display from Asher who was almost immediately substituted by Dearden with Mickey Boulding replacing him as Stags changed the formation and started to play two up front.

The changed formation appeared to perk the Stags up but just 5 minutes after coming on, Boulding appeared to receive a kick in the face from fellow Stags player Clarke, as both players challenged for the ball in the Barnet penalty area. Boulding was down for some time but bravely carried on until the half-time break. Towards the end of the 15 minutes half-time interval, Boulding came down to the end where the Stags fans were congregated and was led away by somebody. It was later confirmed that he had to go to hospital and had suffered a broken nose.

Half time 3-1

Danny Bacon replaced Boulding for the start of the second half as Stags continued with two up front and the early signs were that Barnet had taken their foot off the pedal. So it was that Mansfield gradually found their way back into the game. After an hour, Darrell Clarke, who had looked poor until this point, went on an excellent solo run from the half-way line but was nudged off the ball just as he was about to shoot. But two minutes later, Clarke, finding confidence from his run, embarked on another run before playing the ball to Danny Bacon on the left hand side of the penalty box. Bacon played an excellent ball back to him as Clarke advanced into the area and the Stags midfielder simply passed the ball under Lee Harrison into the right hand side of the net. It was a terrific goal and now there was belief in the Mansfield side that there was still something for them in the match.

Mansfield were now on top and with 15 minutes left, they drew level. Lee Williams, on the intersection of the half-way line and the right hand touch-line, played the ball forward to the edge of the penalty area where Greenacre and two defenders jumped for possession. Luckily for Greenacre one of the Barnet defenders fell to the ground and the ball fell perfectly into Greenacre`s path to smash the ball into the net from 10 yards.

Suddenly in the final 15 minutes Barnet realised they had thrown away a two-goal lead and began to put the Stags under pressure. Mansfield survived a couple of free-kicks from 20 yards, one taken by former Field Mill favourite John Doolan and the other by the dangerous Darren Currie. The first of these free-kicks was given away by Darrell Clarke as he did well to prevent a very dangerous run on goal but at the expense of earning himself a booking.

In the 89th minute, Mansfield had a very lucky escape when from a corner Barnet substitute Purser headed cleanly into the roof of the net from 5 yards, but the linesman`s flag was already raised to the delight of the Stags fans. In another late incident, defender Stuart Hicks was out cold for a couple of minutes following a clash of heads and his return to the action along with rallying calls to his team-mates and fans alike brought loud applause from the Stags faithful.

So another battling point as the Stags begin their campaign with 3 away league games in succession, and indeed a very creditable draw at one of the teams who I fancy will be in the promotion shake-up come the end of the season. It may have only been one point but it certainly felt like a great result for the 300 or so travelling Stags fans.

Man of the Match – Martin Pemberton

Bowling 6 Clean handling this week and did not have many saves to make.

Asher 5 Poor performance and deservedly substituted. His head seems to go down when the chips are down.

Hicks 8 Another commanding performance from Stags` warrior in defence.

Andrews 6 Fair performance.

Pemberton 8 Excellent game at left back. Looks a classy player.

Williams 7 Battling performance in midfield.

Robinson 7 Encouraging game.

Blake 7 Fabulous goal but went off injured early on.

Clarke 7 Disappointing first half but started to get back to his best form in the second.

Corden 6 As at Cheltenham, some nice touches, but did not impose himself on the game.

Greenacre 7 Predator`s goal, and led the line well.

Subs:

Sisson (for Blake, 14 minutes) 7 An excellent replacement for Blake. Looked good in the centre of midfield.

Boulding (for Asher, 39 minutes) 6 Only on the field for 6 minutes before injury.

Bacon (for Boulding, 46 minutes) 7 Great play to set up second goal. Again looked a fine prospect.

Not used: Mimms, Lomas