Town head up to Mansfield for an important game, aren't they all, that could see town make one step closer to promotion and maybe even hit the top of the table of Burton draw or lose. There are no new injury worries and I guess we will see a similar formation to the squad bar maybe one of two swapped for the bench due to their legs. I'd love to see Mangan get some more game time and possibly Vernon, Vincent, Caton or Clarke also playing at some point. Stick your thoughts below and don't forget Twitter feed if going to the match!
Well - we certainly got away with one there. I cannot remember a game this season when we have created so little. It is difficult to play against Mansfield's up and under tactics but our midfield trio never got hold of the ball and were constantly caught in possession. Mansfield do not score many goals and did not seem to have a Plan B so we managed to hold out without too many alarms but it seemed a very long second half. Credit to Barnett for getting on the end of a looping cross from Ellis though he did very little else of note and even Mangan could not bring about any improvement. Ellis was my man of the match - the steadiest of our defenders and provider of that vital cross. I remember MM saying we will have to win matches in all sorts of ways if we are to win promotion and we certainly won ugly in a very ugly match today. Bury's defeat is also a massive result for us - they can only get a maximum of 88 points and are highly unlikely to beat our goal difference so eight points from five games will see us up.
Looking at the YouTube footage it appears we are very lucky as the ball appears to come off Barnetts arm...
That was not at all clear at the time as some even thought it might have been an own goal. I did see the keeper appeal but I thought perhaps he was appealing for offside. Many on B and A thought Mansfield had a 'stonewall' penalty but I thought there was very little contact and their forward went down very easily. As he had spent all the previous time on the pitch barging into our players illegally perhaps there was some justice there. Lucky maybe but any victory over the brand of anti-football that Mansfield play is a justified one - thank goodness it looks like we will not need to play them in the league next year.
