Archived News from December 2020
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CLOUGH, SWEENEY AND CRAWLEY REACTION
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Manager left with mixed emotions after incredible comeback
mansfieldtown.net, Saturday 5th December 2020 Boss Nigel Clough believes Stags ‘thoroughly deserved’ to win today’s 3-3 draw with Crawley Town, but praised the ‘resilience’ shown by his players to stage a late fightback at One Call Stadium. After a dominant first-half performance saw Mansfield go into half-time 1-0 up, three quickfire Crawley goals at the start of the second-half left the amber and blue shellshocked. However, the Stags dusted themselves down, and goals from midfielder George Lapslie and striker Andy Cook saw the points shared in Nottinghamshire. The manager says he felt ‘relief’ at his side earning a point, but was still left with some disappointment after what was a superb first-half display by Mansfield. “I thought it was a brilliant performance but a slightly disappointing result,” the boss told iFollow Stags. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2020/december/nigel-clough-post-crawley/ “It was a great result in the end in the fact that we’ve come from 3-1 down with not long left, but over the course of the whole game, we thoroughly deserved to win it. “The level of performance - apart from at the start of the second-half - was absolutely brilliant today. We created enough chances to win about four games. “[I feel] relief that we’ve got a point. When you’re 3-1 down, then it’s unlikely you’re going to get anything. But I’m delighted with the resilience shown by the players. “When we did get it to 3-3, we got the ball back and were trying to get the winner. Coming off the back of the Cambridge win as well, I thought it was a brilliant performance today.” Nigel Clough also shared his thoughts on what was a frantic first 15 minutes of the second period. “To come in [at half-time] at only 1-0, that gives the encouragement and lift to the opposition,” he added. “They know they should be out of the game. “When you come in at 1-0, you have to go out in the second-half and get through that first ten or 15 minutes, and we didn’t do that. “They stepped it up for that period, had three shots and scored three goals. It’s not as if they were peppering us. “They had three shots and scored three - if we had a similar ratio, we would be scoring eight or nine. “Their third goal was an exceptional goal - but I also liked George Lapslie’s (below) goal.” After seeing his side fight back from 3-1 down, the manager praised his players’ attitude, and reflected on a week where the Stags have won twice and drawn once. “That [fighting spirit] is what we want. Never give up, never give in and go right until the end. “We talked about it during the week a couple of times after the Dagenham result and hanging on at Cambridge. “It’s about how important that spirit is going to be. We’ve had one defeat in ten now, coming from the place where they’ve been in the last few months, I think that’s a brilliant return.” iFollow Stags subscribers can watch Nigel Clough’s interview in full by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow later this evening. ----------------- Nigel Clough told iFollow Stags: "Right from the kick-off (in the second half), they pinned us back, got a goal ... I'm not sure whether Marek should have come for it again, similar to Colchester." "Their third goal is an unbelievable finish. The second one I'm not sure he meant it at all." Nigel Clough told BBC Radio Nottingham: "I'm not sure he (Marek Stech) should have come for the first one. The second one was a fluke. The third one was a brilliant finish." "At 1-1, he (Lapslie) missed an absolute sitter. "I thought we should have had a penalty for handball in the first half. But we missed a fair few chances today. "We've had 65 shots in the last three games. That's encouraging. "We put some quality balls into the box today. If we give them (the strikers) the service, then they've got to finish." "On a difficult surface today, some of our passing and moving was excellent." transcribed by Martin ---------------------- Clough delighted with Mansfield Town's never-say-die attitude as they fightback for a point against Crawley chad.co.uk, Saturday 5th December 2020 Nigel Clough praised Mansfield Town's resilience and never-say-die attitude after the rescued a point at the death. Andy Cook's stoppage-time finish earned the Stags a 3-3 draw against Crawley at One Call Stadium. Ryan Sweeney had given the hosts an early lead only for a brace from Max Watters and a goal from Tom Dallison to put Crawley Town 3-1 up with half and hour to go. https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/clough-delighted-mansfield-towns-never-say-die-attitude-they-fightback-point-against-crawley-3058985 George Lapslie pulled one back before Cook's final flourish. "I thought it was a brilliant performance and a slightly disappointing result," Clough told iFollow Stags. "A great result in the end as we've come from 3-1 down with not a lot of the game left, but over the course of the whole game we thoroughly deserved to win. "The performance, apart from the first 10 minutes of the second half, was absolutely brilliant. We've created enough chances to win four games." Clough admitted his first emotion was 'relief' at the final whistle, but also took time to give the thumbs up to his side as they went on to look for the winner. "When you're 3-1 down at home or anywhere then it's unlikely you're going to get anything out of the game," he added. "I'm delighted with the resilience shown and the fact we kept going - also the fact when we did go 3-3 we didn't celebrate, we got the ball back and tried to get a winner." ---------------------- Defender commends Stags' spirit mansfieldtown.net, Saturday 5th December 2020 Centre-half Ryan Sweeney highlighted the character of the Mansfield Town squad after staging a dramatic fightback to draw 3-3 with Crawley Town on Saturday afternoon. The No. 5 opened proceedings at One Call Stadium after turning home George Maris’ corner inside the early exchanges. However, substitute Max Watters’ brace sandwiched defender Tom Dallison’s looping strike within a frantic spell that left the Stags needing to strike twice. And with midfielder George Lapslie’s volley being followed up by a stoppage-time effort by forward Andy Cook, the Irishman was quick to praise their never-say-die attitude. “I thought it was a decent performance, especially in the first-half,” the defender told iFollow Stags. “I thought we were really good. The message at half-time was to be ready for their fast start and we weren’t. We hit a mad 10 minute spell and it felt like we had blinked and we were 3-1 down. https://www.mansfieldtown.net/news/2020/december/sweeney-post-crawley/ “Full credit to the lads for coming back and sticking with it. That’s two late goals in the space of a week, so there’s character in that dressing room. “Especially after the week we’ve had - there’s been a lot of games with one going into extra time - so it’s fair play to the boys for coming back and taking a point.” The 23-year-old was buoyed by Mansfield’s first-half display but was ultimately left disappointed after squandering their advantage early in the second period. “There was some good football in there with the midfield doing the ugly side well. It got us up the pitch. “The forwards were great, too, and I thought Jord [Jordan Bowery] carried the ball really well for us. It was just a little bit disappointing that we couldn’t capitalise on that a little more. I thought it was a good first-half performance. “We were really disappointed with the way we started the second-half but to be fair to them they probably had three or four shots in that space of time and it felt like everything went in. “Sometimes that can happen. It’s disappointing from our point of view but we ended up taking the point. “When you’re on top that much you’re expecting a response from the other side. It was just that we didn’t deal with it as well as we’d thought we could, so it’s something to look at and improve upon heading into next Saturday. Sweeney also looked back on his side’s recent run under boss Nigel Clough that has seen just one defeat in the past 10 outings. “It’s probably a bit mixed because I genuinely think we played decent, it was just a mad 10 minutes that have ended up stopping us from getting all three points,” he continued. “I think it’s one loss in the last 10 [games] now, so if you can’t win then the first priority is not to lose and when you get a point from 3-1 down you’ll take it. “We’re not happy with it at all - and it’s something we’ll look to rectify for next week - but it’s a point we’ll move on with. “Football is about momentum. We haven’t lost an awful lot this season we just haven’t managed to turn draws into wins. “We’ll keep cracking on, getting on the training pitch, working hard and still try to build that momentum heading into the Christmas period.” iFollow Stags subscribers can watch Ryan's interview in full by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow later this evening. ----------------------- Ryan Sweeney says there’s ‘character in the dressing room’ following Mansfield Town fightback chad.co.uk, Saturday 5th December 2020 Goalscorer Ryan Sweeney believes a ‘mad 10 minutes’ cost Mansfield Town three wins in seven days - but was pleased with the side’s fighting spirit. Andy Cook’s stoppage-time finish secured a 3-3 draw against Crawley at One Call Stadium yesterday. The Stags were forced to fight back from 3-1 down after the visitors netted twice early in the second half to give themselves what appeared to be a comfortable lead. “It’s probably a bit mixed because I genuinely think we played decent, it was just a mad 10 minutes that have ended up stopping us from getting all three points,” said Sweeney, who was also on the scoresheet along with George Laspslie. https://www.chad.co.uk/sport/football/ryan-sweeney-says-theres-character-dressing-room-following-mansfield-town-fightback-3059123 “I think it’s one loss in the last 10 (games) now, so if you can’t win then the first priority is not to lose and when you get a point from 3-1 down you’ll take it. “We’re not happy with it at all - and it’s something we’ll look to rectify for next week - but it’s a point we’ll move on with.” Last Sunday’s extra-time win over Dagenham & Redbridge and the midweek win at Cambridge United saw Mansfield head into yesterday’s contest with momentum. The hectic week may have taken its toll, but the Stags players fought until the bitter end. Sweeney added: “Full credit to the lads for coming back and sticking with it. “That’s two late goals in the space of a week, so there’s character in that dressing room. ------------------- Lee Bradbury, assistant head coach, told the Crawley Town official website: "First half we were nowhere near the standards we should be at. We were lucky to be 1-0 down at half time, could have been 3-0. We didn't win enough first balls, second balls, and they ran all over us. "We were much better in the second half. A slight tweak in formation. We were unfortunate in the end when they scored a deflected goal. "Being 3-1 up like we were, we should be seeing that out. To be fair their second goal was a good goal, a great finish, volleys it into the top corner. "Probably in hindsight, a draw was a fair result, but it's hard to take that when you were 3-2 up with 2 minutes to go. "Max (Watters) is attracting a lot of attention and rightly so. He's not really had a pre-season, so we're building him up at the moment. Ideally we'd want him to play 90 minutes every game, but at the same time we don't want him breaking down." transcribed by Martin ------------------ John Radford @JRadfordMTFC That was some game to watch! Only one loss in ten games now. Slowly but surely, we’re making progress. COYS!!! ----------------- |
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