Carlisle scorefred sponsored by our 1st away win

[Martin Shaw]

:) video sky sports
http://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sp ... -mansfield

note that the Hallam Hope header against the bar was actually before his goal.

[Terry Eccles Was God]

Good point at Carlisle. 2 points from 6th place, when this side clicks, that's where we will be, or higher. Without the pen misses we would have10 points and I don't think we are firing on all cylinders yet. Still full of optimism.

[No Breaks Allowed]

Great point away at Carlisle! Yes, should have took all 3 points with penalty, but feels like team is starting to gel. Last season we were 18th when Evans took over, and just missed out on play offs. We are 15th in September, and two points off play offs, let's keep the faith, looks like it's taking a little longer than expected to get where we want to be... COYS

[Woodclanger 1]

What was Benning doing again!!!, perhaps time for Hunt to have a go?

[bobbystagsfan]

. was Benning doing again!!!, perhaps time for Hunt to have a go?

said the same thing last week, i guess hunt didn't do enough against lincoln to warrant a start

[grufti]

Benning was poor last season too

[bobbystagsfan]

I think he'd be better as a winger at the moment, looks good going forward but seems a bit shakey defensively

[northern stag]

Benning was superb at Accy our MOM, but as good as he was there he was that bad at Carlisle today, I suppose that why he is a league 2 footballer.

[cerfjaune]

I remember when we signed him fans of the club where he'd been on loan - York I think - said he was good going forward, but suspect defensively.

I wouldn't argue with that judgement on the evidence of the last eight or ten months.

[DoomMerchant]

Personally thought that Mal Benning came good in the second half of last season. Seems to have started this one a little off the boil but not having it that he was poor in that second part of 2016-17, when the whole defence was excellent.

[bobbystagsfan]

It's very rare you get full backs that are fully competent at going forward and defending in league two, i like mal and he is a good player but he needs to knuckle down to try and learn from his mistakes

[Jamie]

Decent point, shame not to have done better. Sounded like we we're lucky to get a point despite the missed penno.

Feels like we're still waiting for this team to get going. Someone is going to get a real hiding sometime soon.

[STAGS FOR LIFE]

[Bros]

A problem with away games might be that as we are bookies favourites to go up the opposition and fans will be intent on putting us down

[Spiritater]

A point at Carlisle when 'overnighting' and then playing totally Tyrone Thompson is a great outcome. I'd have settled for that before kick off.
Had the team played the sexy footy we played last week first half we'd have been out of sight at half time. It boils down to the being consistent question, and we need to have more good days, it can't be a decent game then a bad one. Or a decent 45 then a Ross Dyer 45, good teams don't do that, they're on it for the full game or game after game.
Home to Grimsby next week will do for starters.

[EdwinstoweStag]

9 points in the next three games is more than possible, methinks.

[Jimstag]

9 points in the next three games is more than possible, methinks.

I don't think we'll be getting 9 points from those games but yes if we hit a bit of consistency a win is achievable in all of these games.
I'd say 5/6 points would be a fairer target given our inconsistency. If we play to the best of what we've seen then we would steamroller most in the league but we've got to address our defensive issues first and be that bit more ruthless in front of goal, starting with finding a penalty taker.
On the Benning point others have made, it depends on what Hunt is doing in training. Our tactics rely on the wingbacks for width and with that being mals strength he's hard to drop. Evans will expect him to be caught upfield occasionally but also expect other players to be capable of covering when he is.

[JAMES9002]

Match gallery from yesterday

http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/ma ... -1-8734636

and some fan shots

http://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/ma ... -1-8734627

[Spiritater]

9 points in the next three games is more than possible, methinks.

I don't think we'll be getting 9 points from those games but yes if we hit a bit of consistency a win is achievable in all of these games.
I'd say 5/6 points would be a fairer target given our inconsistency. If we play to the best of what we've seen then we would steamroller most in the league but we've got to address our defensive issues first and be that bit more ruthless in front of goal, starting with finding a penalty taker.
On the Benning point others have made, it depends on what Hunt is doing in training. Our tactics rely on the wingbacks for width and with that being mals strength he's hard to drop. Evans will expect him to be caught upfield occasionally but also expect other players to be capable of covering when he is.

I'll say one thing for CJ is that when he played with Mal on the left he (CJ) would cover well for for Mal when he ventured forward. They worked well as a twosome in that respect.

[Tippy Tappy Football]

I thought we should have won yesterday. Gave a silly goal way from a counter attack to our free kick. Missed a penalty. Had other chances. We need to stop making silly mistakes at the back and be more ruthless in front of goal. I think we should have had four wins and a draw from the league games to date. We need to start putting together a Paul Cox style run of wins though as we ain't going to get promoted on current results. I also want the opposition to start saying we are a good side instead of just pointing out how much money we have spent.

Lee Angol is starting to find his form and I think he and Hemmings could work well together. We did not look as good going forward when Angol went off but he was at risk of getting sent off. He needs to keep his cool a bit more. Hemmings miscontrolled the ball a few times yesterday when he looked through on goal. I thought his free kick was going in but the keeper made a great save. Danny Rose was ineffective when he came on (same as Tuesday). He did not win a single header which is normally one of his strengths. The two Carlisle centre halfs played well and Mark Ellis was given MOM by their sponsors.

I thought Joel Byrom had a good game in midfield and Jacob Mellis played well first half. He looked our most dangerous midfield player. We need to see a lot more from Paul Anderson and Will Atkinson. Paul Anderson gave the ball away a lot in the first half which he also did at Crewe. He did drop back and cover well though when we had free kicks and corners (apart from the goal!).

I thought our best defender was Krystian Pearce. David Mirfin also did reasonably well. I think it was Mirfin who was beat in the air for Hallam Hope's header that hit the bar. He also slipped over and nearly let Carlisle in. He get very tight to the forwards and at times has his hands all over them. He could easily have picked up another yellow card. I thought he had been booked in the 1st half for an early foul so was expecting him to be sent off for his professional foul in the 2nd half. Rhys Bennett had a hard time in the 1st half with Nicky Adams and Danny Grainger attacking down Carlisle's left but did a lot better in the 2nd half. Mal Benning had a poor game. He made a few silly mistakes including diving in on Hope for the goal. He did get forward but his final ball was not good enough. He's had two dodgy games after being excellent at Accrington.

Conrad Logan was getting stick from Stags fans for not coming to claim the ball but he did punch a few crosses clear and he made a good save in the 2nd half. He does not look decisive at times and sometimes seems slow to react. His kicking and distribution though is very good.

The main problem is going to be keeping our large squad happy. I think around 15 of our players have dropped down from League 1 or higher. They are not going to be happy not making the team or squad in League 2 even though they are apparently being well rewarded. I assume Jacob Mellis was one of our more expensive signings but he has not featured a lot to date and was subbed for Calum Butcher. I thought Mellis had a decent 1st half. He does look like he can be "the architect" that David Holdsworth wanted when he signed Blair Sturrock or even Evans' No. 10.