Briscoe's Birthday Beauty!!!!!!

Louis briscoe marked his 23rd birthday with a stunning strike in the 90th minute to gain Mansfield 3 valuable points. Mansfield fell behind on 14 minutes when Aaron O'connor provided a beautiful finish to his Silky footwork to fire home a strike from 18 yards past the helpless Alan Marriott. Mansfield continued pressuring Rushden and got their efforts rewarded on 29 minutes when a beautiful ball over the top by Adam Murray played in Luke Medley and he beat the keeper in a one on one to pull Mansfield level. Mansfield had a number of chances but Louis Briscoe hit the post on 45 minutes.

Mansfield dominated the second period but never really pressed home their advantage. Tom Naylor was dominant in defence and constantly thwarted Rushden in attack with what in my opinion was a man of the match performance. That honour was however bestowed upon Paul Connor. With time all but up Louis Briscoe picked up a loose ball and after a short run fired home a venomous effort from the edge of the box to secure all 3 points to Mansfield. Duncan Russell will be breathing a little easier now.

Hall comes out of retirement.

Mansfield towns assistant manager has come out of retirement to boost the squad. The ex Jamaican international is 38 and is now the.moat experienced squad member. Youngster Connor Higginson is also back in the squad after his loan spell at glapwell.

Spirited Fightback Earns Mansfield Valuable Victory.

                      Histon 2-3 Mansfield Town

                   Mansfield Town fought back valiantly tonight against Histon to secure a valuable victory in their pursuit of a play off place. Histon found themselves down to 10 men after 12 minutes when Erkan Okay stopped the ball on the line with his hand and was dismissed for deliberate handball. Louis Briscoe stepped up to take the penalty but for the second time in three days he saw his penalty saved, this time there was no goal from the rebound. The first half was pretty un-eventful until Kevin Sandwith performed a foul in the Mansfield Penalty area on 40 minutes and Riza stepped up to put the home side 1-0 up. Connor came close moments later but almost immediately Histon doubled their lead as Jim Stevenson fired home from a few yards out to stun the Stags. Mansfield went into the break 2-0 and somewhat embarrassed by 10 men Histon.

                       Mansfield struck back immediately in the second half as Louis Briscoe scored on 48 minutes to bring Mansfield back to 2-1 after he was fed in behind the Histon defence. Louis Briscoe Levelled matters on 68 minutes when he fired the ball across the goal and in off of the post Mansfield could smell blood and the score was 2-2. Louis Briscoe then completed a brilliant week for himself and Mansfield as on 80 Minutes he secured his hat trick and all three points for Mansfield. Niall O'Rafferty came on in place of the un impressive Mitchley on 83 minutes for his second Mansfield game in a week. Mansfield will be full of confidence after securing this 3-2 victory and reaching the FA Trophy final. Hopefully now they will use this as a catalyst for the rest of the season and make a push for the play offs.

Match Report by Paul Lewis

Wembley, Wembley, Mansfield Town and we're going to Wembley!!!!!

  Luton Town 1-1 Mansfield Town 

After Extra Time 1-2 on aggregate                 

                             Mansfield Town scraped through a fired up affair at Kenilworth Road this afternoon. Louis Briscoe was the hero as he buried his own rebound after Kevin Pilkington saved his penalty with 2 minutes to go in extra time. 

                      Luton had equalised 42 seconds into the second half after stags failed to wake up from the restart. Lyod Owusu fired in a thunder bolt shot from 20 yards, although Mansfield Keeper David Grof could have dealt with it a lot better. The game then opened right up with plenty of chances at both ends but the kiss of death fell upon Luton when Claude Gnapka was dismissed for his second yellow card on 84 minutes and then Alex Lawless soon followed in to the changing room 6 minutes later when he made an horrendous challenge on Kyle Nix which left the Mansfield midfielder down on the deck receiving treatment for a head injury. The referee saw fit to produce a straight red card and Lawless was talking the long walk back to the shower. 

                      Mansfield dominated both periods of extra time and with just 2 minutes on the clock the referee awarded Mansfield a penalty after a Luton defender handled inside the box. Louis Briscoe collected the ball and fired it goalwards only to see Kevin Pilkington save his effort but Briscoe was the quickest to react and he fired in the rebound and catapulted Mansfield into the Final of the FA Trophy where they will face Darlington on the 7th May at Wembley stadium. For Mansfield Town it is a long awaited to return to Wembley stadium after 24 years. Can they emulate their former glory and be victorious? only time will tell until then we can all dream.

                         Come on you Stags!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Report by Paul Lewis

The Excitement is building.

Stags fans are loading up the buses and preparing for a mentally draining trip to Luton Town. The stags are defending a 1-0 lead from the semi final first leg and anybody who follows Mansfield Town will know today will be anything but straight forward. Can the stags achieve their dream and reach wembley? Tune in to maunside later to hear commentary from the game with me. Fingers crossed come on the stags.

York City 2-1 Mansfield Town

York City 2-1 Mansfield Town

Goals

Naylor 27 (Mansfield)

Reed 58,68 (York City)

Attendance 2261 (128)

Bootham Crescent, York

York City

M. Ingham

L. Darville

D. Parslow

C. Smith (YC 4min)

J. Meredith

J. Smith

S. Kerr (Yc 14min)

D. Mcdermott

D. Racchi

M. Rankine

P. Till

Subs

D. McGurk

J. Reed (On for Racchi 55)  (2 Goals)

W. Hatfield (On for McDermott 75)

L. Constantine 

A. Boucaud (On for Till 78)

Mansfield Town

D. Grof

D. Spence

T. Naylor (1 Goal)

S. Foster

P. Stonehouse

A. Cain

A. Murray

S. Istead

A. Smith

N. O'Rafferty

D. Mitchley (YC 70min)

Subs

A. Marriot

K. Sandwith

L. Briscoe (On for A. Cain 65)

K. Nix (On for Mitchley 75)

P. Connor (On for O'Rafferty 56)

Match Report

                                          Mansfield were beaten in a game of two halves tonight, making 6 changes from Sundays FA Trophy Semi Final 1st Leg against Luton. Niall O'Rafferty making his Mansfield Debut failed to impress. After a pretty convincing first half in which the stags had all the chances. Tom Naylor headed Mansfield into the lead on 27 minutes from a free kick delivered by Adam Murray. Moments earlier Dan Spence had a shot tipped onto the bar. The possesion was pretty even but Mansfield Town where edging the attacking play. Ashley Cain had been played through by Danny Mitchley but wasted a guilt edged chance on 15 minutes. David Grof was called into action in the last 10 minutes of the first half making a couple of fantastic saves but Mansfield seemed to have the game under control.

                                          The second half got underway with York looking pretty hungry but after 5 minutes they seemed to have gone stale and the home crowd where starting to get on their back. What seems like an inspired substitution from Gary Mills saw him bring on Jamie Reed and he was to be the downfall for Mansfield. After some pretty awful defending he was able to pounce from 12 yards out and fire a low shot into the centre of the net to equalize for the home side. He sealed Mansfield's fate 10 minutes later when a run from Michael Rankine resulted in him firing an effort on goal that hit the bar before looping back out and Reed was there to strike again 2-1 York. 

                                                   Mansfield tried in vain to bridge the gap but the final ball was never good enough and seemed to limp to their first defeat in games. All focus will now be shifted to Saturdays FA Trophy semi final second leg away at Luton Town. Mansfield have a 1-0 lead from the first leg and only need to avoid defeat to progress to the final. The 6 players rested for todays game will no doubt be raring to go again on Saturday and take Mansfield back to the home of English Football, Wembley. We will all keep our fingers Crossed.

Bookings

C. Smith (York)

S. Kerr (York)

D. Mitchley (Mansfield)

Match Report by Paul Lewis

Can we dream?

                                After yesterdays fantastic 1-0 win at home to Luton, can we really start to dream about a return to the home of English football.

                               The Stags travel to Luton on Saturday only needing to avoid defeat to progress to the final of the FA trophy. Danny Mitchley's Strike earned Mansfield Town a 1-0 victory in a game that could have gone either way, but we all know the job is far from over. Luton are notorious at home and the stags have been a bit hit and miss lately. The key will be keeping are star players fit. Louis Briscoe has been a revelation this season and Paul Connor has been finding the net with regular deadly accuracy.

                             The thing that has been a worry for stags fans and Manager Duncan Russell is the lack of awareness in defence. Mansfield have been conceding some very cheap goals recently and Goalkeeper David Grof has had a couple of questionable games too. Against Chasetown in the last round Grof could have handled all three of Chasetowns goals better and was definitely partially to blame for two of them.

                            So all eyes are on Saturdays crunch game. Can the stags fulfil some of their potential and lift the FA trophy? Can this help kick the rest of the season into action and geyt a push going for the play off's. Well we can dream can't we?