Archived News from August 2017
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EVANS, ROSE, ARTELL REACTION
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Dominant Stags worthy of win - boss
mansfieldtown.net, 5 August 2017 Stags' boss Steve Evans believes his side's dominance in this afternoon's 2-2 draw away to Crewe Alexandra was deserving of all three points. The new-look Stags' first competitive fixture ended in stalemate and they twice came behind after striker Danny Rose and defender David Mirfin cancelled out Crewe frontman Chris Porter's brace of headers. Stags dominated for large spells in the game and while the boss was pleased with certain passages of play, he admits the performance should have yielded three points. "I don't think there's any doubt we deserved to win it in the quality of play and the dominance of play. Crewe Alexandra scored twice against the run of play," the Stags' chief said. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2017/august/dominant-stags-worthy-of-win---boss/ "It's quite interesting, you hear some of the shouts from their bench and their players about going to a five at the back and they couldn't cope with the movement and the passing. "I think we played really well in spells, but if you don't defend properly in your box, you're going to concede. "It's a shame when the Crewe goals came because they came totally against dominance in play but that's when you're at your weakest, when you've got dominance of the ball. "We started really well, we were dominating the ball but we probably didn't have enough in the final third in terms of that movement or that little pass or that little control of the ball but when they scored just before half-time, I think it's a surprise to most in the ground." The boss was pleased with the play in the lead up to both goals scored by his side this afternoon and saw some of his training ground work translate onto the pitch. "We went across the pitch three or four times, into the striker, back out, it's a terrific cross in and Danny Rose gets across the defender and it's a great finish. "The second goal, we've been working so hard with Joel Byrom but he's got fantastic delivery. We score from that one and we should probably score from two more later in the game but it's hard place to come, we take the point. "We take no plaudits; we said we wanted a clean sheet, we've not achieved that objective. We said we wanted to be off and running with points and we've done that." Stags' travelling support totalled 1,392 and the former Leeds United boss was gratefully surprised by the numbers in which the faithful travelled to Cheshire this afternoon. "I came out the tunnel before kick-off and I was really surprised, but thank you to everyone. I think they've seen, when I first came into the club, I said I'd build a team that becomes a bit of a rollercoaster of emotions. "We try to win. We were trying to win in the 96th minute of a game when we're pushing midfield players forward. We understand that there's going to be counter attacks against us, teams are just going to accept it." When asked about potential new signings, the gaffer said chairman John Radford and chief executive officer Carolyn Radford are still working hard behind the scenes. "I've not caught up with the chief exec and the chairman - they're working hard. We'll be doing some business whether it takes to the end of the window, but we're going to try and strengthen. What I'm not going to do, I'm not going to go and sign players for the sake of them, that's not me." Supporters will be able to watch the gaffer's full interview on iFollow Stags later this evening. --------------- Rose pleased to get off the mark mansfieldtown.net, 5 August 2017 Frontman Danny Rose was happy to open his account for the season in today's 2-2 draw against Crewe Alexandra, but admits the performance gives Stags plenty to work on in the coming weeks. The former Bury striker scored Stags' first goal of the afternoon as he headed home left-back Mal Benning's cross from the left after Crewe forward Chris Porter had put the Alex ahead. Porter then struck again as Crewe re-took the lead, but centre-half David Mirfin scored from close range following a Joel Byrom free-kick to ensure Stags left Cheshire with a share of the spoils. And speaking post-match, striker Rose said: "It's always nice to get an opening goal at the start of the season but we'd have liked three points but I think we'll take a point. It's away from home so it's a good start. "I think there's stuff to be worked on. The two goals are poor goals to concede but it's the first game of the season, we'll work on it in training and hopefully we'll be alright. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2017/august/rose-pleased-to-get-off-the-mark/ "I anticipated he (Mal Benning) was going to [cross it] first time and luckily he did. I got my head on it and headed it down and luckily it's gone in." Stags appeared for the second half at Gresty Road much sharper in the final third than they did in the first and Rose admits that the visitors had the chances to seal an opening day victory. "I think we created more in the second half, rather than the first half. [In the] first half we weren't really good in the final third but the second half we could have scored two or three more. "It's a point at the end of the day and we've got to respect that." Speaking more generally, Rose is impressed with the quality of the signings made by manager Steve Evans during the close season. "It's a very good team. There's been a lot of good signings. There's been signings from the league above and you can tell, they've got different class. "I don't think anyone was expecting to be on the team-sheet. There was four or five players who weren't even in the squad and they're brilliant quality. "Tafty (George Taft) and the other lads have all been brilliant all pre-season. We've had a good pre-season but no one expected to be in the starting eleven but thankfully I was in it and I just put my head down and thankfully scored at the end of the day." The Barnsley-born forward has also told http://www.mansfieldtown.net what he hopes to achieve this season. Rose said: "We just want to be up there at the end of the season. It would be nice to be in double figures but we want to be up there at the end of the season. "We've got quality throughout the squad and we want to be up there for promotion and see what happens." Supporters can login to iFollow Stags to watch Danny Rose's full interview later this evening. ----------------------- Artel: "We Stood Up To Them Well" crewealex.net Following Crewe Alexandra’s opening day draw with promotion favourites Mansfield Town, Crewe Alexandra boss David Artell expressed his pleasure in his side standing up to the Stags’ physical approach. Chris Porter marked his debut with two great headers but Crewe couldn't hold on to the advantage and had to settle for a point. Artell told the club’s official web-site: “It was a typical league two game that had a bit of everything. There were chances for both sides and four goals but I think we shot ourselves in the foot a bit with the second goal. It is something we will be working on in training because we cannot be conceding goals like that. https://www.crewealex.net/news/2017/august/artell-we-stood-up-to-them-well/ “It is a decent start and we are up and running. It could have been worse we could have been playing Luton today! There are positive things and things we need to work on. We will get down to it next week in training. “I thought Chris (Porter) was the best player on the pitch without a shadow of a doubt. He showed why we were prepared to spend the money to bring him in. He has quality and experience and they were two excellent headers from him. He was terrific and it is great that he has scored two goals on his debut for us. “His first goal was all about anticipation. He knew where the ball was going to go from Raynes’ header and you cannot teach that. That is an acquired skill. “I thought his second goal was a really good goal. It was an excellent delivery from Cooper and Chris showed all his experience to direct it where he wanted to. It’s a shame that it wasn’t the winner. “Mansfield are a big, strong side and have spent some money this summer. They are giving it a real go and we knew they would be physical. I was a bit disappointed that we got involved in that and it went a bit scrappy with the fouls but on the other hand I thought we stood up it to well. “We have that performance in us. We can stand up to it and we have to replicate it when we face teams like that. It is a decent start from us and it gives us something to build on. “ ------- |
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