Archived News from October 2018
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FLITCROFT, BISHOP AND JIM BENTLEY REACTION
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Manager credits team effort for clean sheet in victory
mansfieldtown.net, 23 October 2018 Stags’ boss David Flitcroft was keen to credit all of his players for preserving a second successive clean sheet in Mansfield’s 1-0 win over Morecambe at Globe Arena this evening. Midfielder Neal Bishop fired home the only goal of the contest in the 36th minute, sending a crashing volley home from just outside the area. The Mansfield boss was not only quick to praise his defenders for preserving the clean sheet, but also noted the effort from the entire Stags’ side, stating that keeping the opposition at bay ‘starts from the front.’ “Matty Preston came in at half-time with an ankle injury, patched it up and went out there and kept a clean sheet,” said the gaffer. “The clean sheet starts from the front and the players were working so hard for the clean sheet. We have a really good defensive record this season. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2018/october/gaffer-post-morecambe/ “The trip home from Swindon was completely different to the trip home from Cambridge. It was important how the players understood how they got that clean sheet down at Swindon. “To get that second successive clean sheet is important. People just look at the defenders and the goalkeeper for clean sheets, but Danny Rose’s stats were through the roof chasing the ball. “There were lots of positives tonight. I thought KP [Pearce] marshalled the game fantastically well. “Having Bish [Neal Bishop] back gave us structure in the centre of the pitch. I thought he was excellent.” The manager also spoke of the 144 Stags’ fans who made the journey up to Lancashire this evening, who he described as ‘brilliant.’ “It’s three-and-a-half hours [to get] up here. I look at the supporters who have travelled up on a Tuesday night. They’ve been brilliant. “I think of the two games at Bury and Cambridge that we didn’t see out and I was disappointed for the supporters. “We were worthy of three points the way we played and the way we battled. I say to the players after, ‘how do we now improve that performance?’ We just have to go and finish our chances and put them to the sword. “I’m delighted with the clean sheet. I think the boys worked really hard for that. Our defensive record is absolutely brilliant. “I don’t think there was much [difference between the sides]. I thought we dealt with the conditions well and we tried to play it through the pitch. “We calculated our work tonight and we were brave in our work. We must have had 15 one against ones on this side of the pitch [with CJ Hamilton]. “We had the lion’s share of the ball and we moved it well. But that last bit, we’ll keep improving on that.” Tonight’s win means it is ten games unbeaten on the road for David Flitcroft’s side - a new club record - yet he conceded that Mansfield should have perhaps picked up more points during this impressive run. “[Reasons for unbeaten away record are] discipline, organisation and a willingness to run more than the opposition and put your body on the line,” said the manager. “There is something inside me that feels that it [record] should not be celebrated because I want more points. And we’re hungry for that. “There is a spirit that has been grown since I have come here. A team has to do both sides of the game and we are certainly showing that.” Last night, the Stags were drawn at home to Charlton in the first round of the FA Cup, and the boss shared his feelings on the fixture, which will take place over the weekend commencing Friday 09 November. “The FA Cup is one of the best cup competitions. It’s a competition with tradition. Every club has an opportunity, and in this round there are teams that have got that opportunity and got into round one. “We have Charlton in a home tie which is good. I look back at pre-season and the Championship teams we played, who gave us an opportunity to set traps and win the ball off them. “Charlton will bring a different style of play to most League Two clubs and they’re riding high in League One. “You have to be stimulated by the FA Cup. I have a group of players who are running for each other and giving everything for the shirt.” iFollow Stags subscribers can watch the manager’s interview in full by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow later today. ------------------ Flitcroft delighted for fans as Mansfield Town chalk up first away win of the season chad.co.uk, Tuesday 23 October 2018 Mansfield Town manager David Flitcroft dedicated tonight’s first away win of the season at Morecambe to the club’s loyal supporters. Twice this season Stags have conceded a late equaliser to frustrate their away fans. But Stags superbly defended Neal Bishop’s first half goal tonight and Flitcroft said: “I was delighted for the supporters tonight. “It’s three and a half hours up here and I looked at the supporters in the corner that travelled up here on a Tuesday night to come and watch us. They have been brilliant all season. Read more at: https://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport/football/flitcroft-delighted-for-fans-as-mansfield-town-chalk-up-first-away-win-of-the-season-1-9410579 “We got a valiant point on Saturday but the games at Cambridge and Bury - we didn’t see them out and I was disappointed for the supporters. “Tonight, for the fans that travelled up, we were well worthy of the three points with the way we played and the way we battled.” It was a fourth win a row at Morecambe but Flitcroft said: “It’s a difficult place to come. “Jim Bentley has been around a long time and he is a fantastic person and top manager, working on little resource. “His teams fight for him to the death. They always have done. “We had six minutes overtime and you have to be on your mettle for the whole of it.” He added: “How do we improve on that? We could have put them to the sword with the chances we had. “But I am delighted with the clean sheet - the boys worked really hard for that. Our defensive record is absolutely brilliant and the structure of the team is really good. “I am just looking for an improvement on goals scored. It has to come as we are creating so many opportunities. “We had a swirling wind which we dealt with well and we tried to play through the pitch which was brave.” That win extended Stags’ new club record unbeaten away run to 10 games, and the manager said: “It’s down to discipline, organisation and a willingness to run more than the opposition and put your body on the line. Not getting beaten is important. “There is a spirit that has been grown and a foundation been laid.” ------------------ Mansfield Town face showdown of division’s meanest defences chad.co.uk, Tuesday 23 October 2018 The two meanest defences in League Two will go head to head on Saturday (3pm) when Mansfield Town host high-flying MK Dons at the One Call Stadium. Both sides have only let in nine goals so far, Stags having played two games less, and the Dons had gone over 400 minutes without conceding before Notts County scored against them last night. However, Dons hit back to win 2-1 and make it five wins in a row and seven games unbeaten. Meanwhile Stags stretched the club’s new record unbeaten away sequence to 10 games with a 1-0 win at Morecambe. Delighted boss David Flitcroft said: “Getting two clean sheets in a row is important. That’s not just down to the defence and the goalkeeper. That starts with Danny Rose chasing things down.” Read more at: https://www.hucknalldispatch.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town-face-showdown-of-division-s-meanest-defences-1-9411866 ---------------- Charlton FA Cup tie excites Mansfield Town boss Flitcroft chad.co.uk, Tuesday 23 October 2018 Mansfield Town manager David Flitcroft is excited by the challenge of drawing Charlton Athletic at home in the FA Cup round one draw next month. And he believes his side showed enough in the four pre-season friendlies against Championship opposition - winning three and drawing one - that they can cause problems for a side sat in 11th place in League One. “I think the FA Cup is one of the best cup competitions that’s out there,” said Flitcroft. “It is a competition with tradition. I have a footballing family and a footballing background and I know what it means to every club. Read more at: https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/charlton-fa-cup-tie-excites-mansfield-town-boss-flitcroft-1-9411489 “Every club has an opportunity and a chance. “Teams (non-League) have that opportunity in this round, having got into round one. You can pull out one of them and that’s a difficult tie. “But we’ve got Charlton and it’s a home tie, which is fantastic for us. “There are other games you can get that are miles away on difficult surfaces. We have one of the best surfaces in football and it’s going to be a fantastic game of football.” Mansfield impressed against Championship opponents in pre-season and Flitcroft believes that experience will hold them in good stead for the tie, due to be played on the weekend of 10th/11th November. “I look back to pre-season and the Championship teams we played,” he said. “They probably gave us more opportunity to set traps and win the ball off them, so when we get to it and have a look at that tie, we can look back to our work in the summer. “There was a lot of good work in pre-season that we might have to go back to for the different style of football Charlton will play compared to most League Two clubs. “They are riding high in League One and they have an ambitious manager (Lee Bowyer) who was a fantastic, aggressive player. So I am sure his style will be imprinted all over the team.” He added: “You have got to be stimulated - it’s the FA Cup - and I’ve got a group of players that are running for each other and giving everything for the shirt. “They will want to play in that game and will be expressing that in the lead-up to that game.” -------------------------------- Stags want winning run - Bishop mansfieldtown.net Stags’ midfielder Neal Bishop says that Mansfield will look to use Tuesday night’s 1-0 victory over Morecambe as a ‘catalyst’ for a winning run in Sky Bet League Two. Mansfield face perhaps the sternest test of the campaign so far on Saturday, as MK Dons, the only side to equal Stags’ defensive record of nine goals conceded in the league this season, visit One Call Stadium. Bishop says that back-to-back wins are vital to any successful campaign, and that the Stags will rise to the occasion on Saturday. “That [back-to-back wins] is massive,” he said. “If you look at any division, if you put together three or four wins on the bounce, you’re up there. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2018/october/bishop-pre-mk-dons/ “You look at the league table a couple of weeks ago and MK Dons were sat in mid-table. They’ve got five on the bounce and are now second. “Exeter were probably the best team we have come up against [this season]. I felt we dominated them for 20-25 minutes, and if we got our noses in front it could have been a completely different story. “I expect MK Dons to be at a similar level, if not a little bit better. But it’s up to us as a club to raise ourselves to the occasion. “It’s something we need to do as all successful teams do it throughout the season. We’re putting pressure on ourselves to do that. The win at Morecambe has to be a catalyst now to go on a good run and get ourselves to where we believe we should be.” The 37-year-old midfielder looked ahead to Saturday’s clash at One Call Stadium, and says that despite MK Dons winning five of the last six in all competitions, Mansfield will not ‘fear’ Paul Tisdale’s side. “In the past few seasons MK Dons have always wanted to get the ball down and play good football. That’s how we want to play the game [too],” added Bishop. “It’s all about the result, that’s what industry we are in. However we try to get the points on Saturday, that’s what we’ll do. “They had their troubles last season but they were a good football side when we [Scunthorpe, Bishop’s former club] played them both times. “Their principles haven’t changed over the past six or seven years. The chairman has a vision of how he wants the club to play and he brings the managers in accordingly. “They’ve had a bit of a setback but they were in the Championship not long ago, so they’re a good club with ambition. Like us, they’ll be looking to get out of this division this season. “We’ll be looking to get on the front foot as a home team and get about them and make chances. But I’m sure they will come here with other ideas. “Our clean sheets and the lads at the back have been fantastic. But I think we said on Tuesday, the lads up top started off defending from the front and made sure no-one had the chance to pick a pass. That takes the pressure off us near the back. “Clean sheets aren’t just for the back three or four, it’s for the whole team. And if we can marry that with a few goals, then we can look forward to a positive last three quarters of the season. “We’re at home and we don’t fear anyone, and that’s no disrespect to MK Dons or anyone in this league. When we are at home and getting on the front foot, we’re more than a match for anyone.” Bishop fired home the winning goal in Stags’ 1-0 win over Morecambe on Tuesday evening, which the midfielder described as a ‘real solid away performance.’ “I got the goal but the win is always the most important thing. On the back of battling for a point with ten men [against Swindon], it makes it look an even better point now. “It probably could have been more [against Morecambe], but we’ll take a clean sheet and a win. “I can’t say it was the corner we worked on in training, but I saw it coming all the way through and I had a lot of time to pick my spot and concentrate on keeping it down and hitting the target. “When we had to dig in, we did. On Tuesday the wind was terrible and it was a lottery where the ball was going to land when it was up in the air. We did really well in the conditions and put in a real solid away performance.” Tickets are still available for Saturday’s big game, with the easiest way to purchase being via stagstickets.co.uk. -------------------- Dons hold no fear insists Bishop as Mansfield Town seek back-to-back wins chad.co.uk, by JOHN LOMAS, Thursday 25 October 2018 Mansfield Town midfield general Neal Bishop said the Stags have no fear of Saturday’s high-flying visitors MK Dons and stressed the need to start putting back-to-back wins together. The Dons have won five in a row to go second and are seven unbeaten. But the Stags are now seven games unbeaten in all competitions and the 1-0 win at Morecambe saw them chalk up a second successive clean sheet to join the Dons as boasting the division’s two meanest defences. “Getting back-to back wins is massive,” stressed Bishop. “It’s something we need to do. All successful teams do it throughout the course of a season. “We are putting pressure on ourselves to do that. The win at Morecambe has got to be a catalyst now to go on a good run and get ourselves up to where we believe we should be Read more at: https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/dons-hold-no-fear-insists-bishop-as-mansfield-town-seek-back-to-back-wins-1-9414109 “You look at any division - if you put together two, three, four wins on the bounce and you’re up there. “I checked the league table a few weeks ago and MK Dons were mid-table. They’ve won five on the bounce and are now second.” Stags’ only League Two defeat all season came at home to Exeter City and Bishop expects MK to be even tougher opponents. “For me Exeter were probably the best team we’ve come up against and I thought we dominated them for the first 20-25 minutes,” he said. “If we’d got our noses out in front that would have been a completely different story. “I expect MK to be at a similar level if not a little bit better. But we have to raise ourselves to the occasion. We are at home and we don’t fear anyone. “That’s no disrespect to MK or anyone in this league. But when we are at home on the front foot, getting about teams, we are more than a match for anyone. “That’s what we will be looking to do on Saturday - get the crowd right behind us, get on the front foot and make things happen.” Bishop has a lot of respect for the way the Dons have tried to stick to their footballing philosophies, despite going on a downward spiral of late. “Whenever I have played MK Dons over recent seasons they have wanted to get the ball down and play good football,” he said. “Obviously we’ve showed a lot of times this season that’s how we want to play the game. So hopefully it will be an attractive game for the people who come down to watch it. “But we are not bothered about the attractiveness of games and pretty football. We are bothered about results. That’s the industry we are in and, however we can get the points on Saturday, that’s what we’ll do.” He added: “MK had their troubles last season. But they were still a good footballing side both times we played them (when he was with Scunthorpe United). “I think we drew, then beat them at their place later on in the season. “But they have principles that haven’t changed over the last five, six, seven years. “Their chairman has got a vision of how he wants the club to play and he brings in managers accordingly to get that. That’s all credit to them. “They have had a bit of a setback - they were in the Championship not long ago. But they are a good club with ambition and, like us, will be looking to get out of this division this season. “Obviously we are going to want to be getting on the front foot as the home team on Saturday and create chances. “But I am sure they will be coming here with other ideas.” Bishop, back from a one-game ban and injury, grabbed the only goal of the game in Tuesday’s night’s triumph at Morecambe, four days after 10-men Stags had fought hard for a 0-0 draw at Swindon. “I got the goal on Tuesday, but the win is always the most important thing, especially on the back of the lads battling for a point on Saturday,” he said. “That was fantastic with 10 men and three points at Morecambe made it look even better. “We thoroughly deserved it and, again, it could have been more. But we’ll take a clean sheet and a win.” Bishop found the net from just outside the box after an out-swinging Otis Khan corner curled back into his path. “I can’t say it’s a corner we’ve worked on in training but I saw it coming all the way,” he smiled. “Their lad’s took a gamble and missed it and I’ve had a lot of time to pick my spot. I just concentrated on keeping it down and hitting the target. Fortunately for me it went in. “On Tuesday when we had to dig in we did and when we had to show composure on the ball we did. I think we married the two together well. “The wind was terrible and when the ball was in the air it was a lottery where it would come down. “So I think we played really well in the conditions. It was a really solid away performance.” He added: “Looking at our clean sheets, the back lads have been fantastic. But, as we saw on Tuesday, the lads up top start it off by defending from the front. “They are making sure no one has time to pick a pass which takes the pressure off us at the back. “The clean sheets are not just for the back three or four and goalkeeper - they’re for the whole team. “If we can marry that with a few more goals we will certainly be looking forward to a positive last three quarters of the season.” -------------------- MK Dons expecting a tough test at Mansfield Town says boss Tisdale chad.co.uk, by JOHN LOMAS, Thursday 25 October 2018 MK Dons boss Paul Tisdale admitted his side will have to work hard to have any chance of points at Mansfield Town on Saturday. The Dons have won five in a row to move second, but Stags are also in good form and Tisdale said: “They haven’t conceded many goals, like us, and they look competent in all areas. “The manager knows the league, they have some good players - it will be a challenge. “There won’t be any low lying fruit to pick on Saturday, we’ll have to work for our points. Read more at: https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/mansfield-town/mk-dons-expecting-a-tough-test-at-mansfield-town-says-boss-tisdale-1-9414287 “We know it’s early days and there’s a long way to go. Five wins in a row is a good platform to build from.” He added: “We can’t just turn up every day and expect it to continue to happen. There has been a lot of hard work into getting the wheels turning. “It started a few months ago with a few cultural changes, the ethic and themes and disciplines. “Recently, it has been detail and structure on the pitch. But we can’t just stop. “The players need reminding but they also know they’re doing well, so we have to find a balance.” Striker Craig Davies could be back in contention by the time Saturday’s game comes around, but Matt Preston, CJ Hamilton and Tyler Walker are doubts, following a recent training session. The game will also come too soon for Mansfield Town right-back Hayden White. Will Atkinson is available for selection after serving his one-match suspension during Tuesday night’s win over Morecambe, following his red card against Swindon last Saturday. ------------------ Jim Bentley reaction, BBC Lancashire https://twitter.com/BBCLancsSport/status/1054854938520641538 "I'm massively frustrated. We're coming up against good sides, ambitious sides, like Mansfield. I'm proud of the lads for their commitment. And I'm proud of the fans, who clapped us off. When you've got the injury list that we've got, it's trying to juggle, trying to find a formula. First half I thought we were decent. They've had one or two chances, we've had one or two. We had the wind first half. They had it second half and it was a little bit difficult to get out. We huffed and puffed in the second half and didn't play as well as we can do and as well as we did in the first half. Credit goes to the opposition as well though. The goal is a misjudgement by Jordan Cranston on the edge of the area, it got caught on the wind. Little things go against you. I didn't think it at the time, but I've just seen it back, and it's never ever a corner that leads up to the goal." (transcribed by Martin) ------- |
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