Brighton
6 Mansfield 0
What
a dreadful start to the season for the Stags. It started off as a carnival
atmosphere for both sets of fans, but within 15 minutes, it had all turned sour
for the yellows, down to 10 men after the harsh sending off of David Kerr, and
a goal down within a couple of minutes by Darren Freeman.
Part
of the carnival atmosphere was due to Brighton`s return to the town after 2
years playing at Gillingham. Withdean Stadium is an athletics ground with
temporary stands on either side of the ground and nothing behind the 2 ends. No
parking is allowed anywhere near the ground, but our hosts for the day live on
the Brighton seafront, so after a picnic lunch just off the beach, we had the benefit
of local knowledge to park within 10 minutes walk of the stadium. We arrived at
the ground at 2.20 and were surprised to be told when we got to the Mansfield
seating, to sit anywhere despite our numbered tickets. This turned out to be a
bad mistake by the stewards and police as when a mass of Mansfield fans turned
up at 2.55, there was a scramble for seats since the full allocation had been
sold. During the first 20 minutes, there was much abuse of the stewards from
the fans who were disgruntled by the poor start on the pitch and irritated by
the incompetence off it.
My
seat was directly in line with the goal-line, which meant that it was a long
way to the far end of the pitch, across the athletics track. The main stand
(4500 seats out of the 6000 in the ground) was on the opposite side of the
ground, and behind it were some huge trees making a pleasant back-drop, and
also enabling some fans who hadn’t been able to get in, to climb up and watch
from afar.
Mansfield
were parading the new home kit: yellow (not amber) with a blue trim on a round
neck, and a blue trim on the cuff. No sponsor`s name on the shirt as expected.
The kit looks plain but smart.
After
a quiet opening 10 minutes on the pitch the game burst into life when David
Kerr went up for a ball with a Brighton player and both players fell to the
ground clutching heads. Immediately Kerr was surrounded by protesting Brighton
players, one of whom appeared to throw a punch as Mansfield players piled in to
protect Kerr. After the melee calmed down, the referee controversially produced
the red card on Kerr much to his amazement, and that of Stags fans. Heads
immediately dropped, probably remembering the effect of previous sendings off
such as Christie at Darlington last season. Sure enough within 2 minutes,
Darren Freeman pounced on a loose ball in the penalty area to hammer it into
the roof of the net and Stags were 1-0 down. Lee Peacock moved from attack into
midfield. So Stags changed from a 4-4-2 formation to 4-4-1, leaving Lormor on
his own up front and during the rest of the half, the Stags barely made it into
the Brighton half, let alone create a single chance. Having said that, Brighton
had only more one chance to score in the first half, and made it count. Lee
Cowling made a dreadful mess of trying to get the ball back to keeper Barry
Richardson and let in Darren Freeman to poke the ball past the keeper.
Generally it was a poor effort by Stags in the first half, and at the break it
was clear there was no way back.
At
the start of the second half, Mansfield appeared to regain a bit of composure
and actually began to knock the ball around, but with only young substitute
Michael Boulding up front, they still never looked like creating any danger.
Out of the blue, on 56 minutes, Brighton scored a third goal as Rod Thomas
shook off challenges to shoot low past Barry Richardson`s right hand. It was a
cracking goal and knocked back Stags after they had briefly showed a flicker of
life. Fifteen minutes later Darren Freeman scored his hat-trick once again
beating Barry Richardson just inside the far post, after Cowling had failed to
cut out a crossfield pass. Freeman was immediately replaced (to a rapturous
reception from the home fans) by Aidan Newhouse, but Stags misery wasn`t over,
as Newhouse helped himself to 2 goals in the last 10 minutes. First he had a
free shot high into the net after Cowling was exposed again, and then
Newhouse`s looping header, when Neil Richardson should really have been able to
head it away, seemed to catch Barry Richardson flat-footed, and ballooned over
him and just under the bar.
That
completed a miserable afternoon for Mansfield. In fact it is hard to draw any
consolation whatsoever from this debacle. Certainly the harsh sending off of
Kerr so early in the game was a decisive factor, and it isn`t possible to say
what would have happened if the Stags had played the 90 minutes with 11 men.
But there is no doubting that the performance was very poor, and the result was
embarrassing. David Linighan was probably Stags man of the match with a solid
display. His partner in central defence Neil Richardson was also solid, despite
being at fault for the 6th goal. However the lack of pace between
them will not go unnoticed by opposition scouts. Barry Richardson in goal
couldn`t really be faulted for the goals apart from the sixth. Cowling was
clearly at fault for 3 of the goals and generally was roasted down the right
wing. The midfield never to grips with game and Tallon looked out of sorts. New
boys Roscoe and Thomas looked anonymous, and Peacock too when he moved back
into midfield. Lormor never had a chance on his own up front in the first half,
and similarly Boulding when he was on his own in the second half. Stags managed
just one shot in the entire game.
We
shouldn`t forget that at the same stage last season, Stags were swept aside 3-0
at Brentford, and I remember being similarly disheartened after that
performance. It will be important for the Stags to put together a decent
performance at the City Ground on Wednesday, and absolutely vital for the Stags
to open their home campaign with 3 points at home to new boys Cheltenham next
Saturday. Right now I don`t feel too confident.
Goalkeeper
Barry
Richardson (No 21) 5 Only at fault for the sixth goal really, and didn’t have
any other saves to make!
Full
backs
Lee
Williams (No 7) 6 Quiet game.
Lee
Cowling (No3) 5 Roasted on the wing and directly responsible for 3 of the goals
Centre
halves
Neil
Richardson (No 5) 6 Solid performance apart from failing to clear on the sixth
goal.
David
Linighan (No 6) 7 Solid performance – man of the match
Midfield
David
Kerr (No 4) 5 Sent off after 11 minutes
Wayne
Thomas (No 19) 5 Played in central midfield, and never really got into the
game.
Gary
Tallon (No 11) 5 Largely anonymous.
Andy
Roscoe (No 20) 5 Played on left side of midfield. Started reasonably but faded
into anonymity.
Forwards
Tony
Lormor (No 9), 5 Played as lone striker in 1st half, withdrawn at
half time. Really not given a chance to do anything.
Lee
Peacock (No 10) 5 Moved into midfield after Kerr sent off. Not able to impose
his talent on the game.
Subs
Michael
Boulding (No 18) 6 Came on for Lormor at half time, and played as lone striker
in 2nd half. Not given any chance to show what he could do.
Michael
Sisson (No 16) 5 Came on for Thomas. Barely noticed he was on the pitch.
Subs
not used
Craig
Allardyce (No 14)
Bobby
Hassell (No 12)
Kevin
Tye (No 13)
Other
squad numbers: Ian Bowling (No 1), Alister Asher (No 2), Darrell Clarke (No 8),
Craig Disley (No 15), Scott Gibbons (No 17).