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?

Mansfield Town 3-1 Chasetown

Tuesday 8th March 2011.

Field Mill, Mansfield

Attendance 2295 (525)

Full Time

Mansfield Town 3-1 Chasetown

Mansfield Town –v- Chasetown

Starting Line-ups

30                    David Grof                                           1          Ryan Price

2                      Gary Silk                                              2          James Turner

3                      Kevin Sandwith                                    3          Christopher Peel

7                      Louis Briscoe                                       4          Christopher Slater

8                      Tyrone Thompson                                5          Richard Davies

16                    Tom Naylor                                          6          RichardTeesdale©

20                    Daniel Spence                                      7          Ramone Stephens

23                    Paul Connor                                         8          Lee Parsons

26                    Ashley Cain                                          9          Gary Birch

29                    Adam Murray©                                    10        Daniel Smith

35                    Danny Mitchley                                    11        Ben Jevons

Subs

1                      Alan Marriot(GK)                                12        Gary Hay

5                      Steve Foster                                         14        John Branch

10                    Kyle Nix                                              15        Mark Branch

11                    Adam Smith                                         16        Steven Abbott

19                    Steven Istead                                        17        Matthew Cohen

Match Report

                                Chasetown started this match looking like the conference team as Mansfield struggled to find their feet. Ben Jevons had the perfect opportunity to put Chasetown in front on 9 minutes as a great run down the right wing by Ramone Stephens culminated in a brilliant deep cross which Jevons met almost perfectly but his effort went just wide to the relief of the Mansfield Town goalkeeper David Grof. Less than a minute later and Richard Davies found himself with the goal at his mercy but he fired his attempt wide. The amount of space in behind Mansfield Town's defence was quite alarming. Mansfield had their first effort on 13 minutes when Paul Connor met an inch perfect Dan Spence cross only to put the ball over when it seemed easier to score. 

                              Adam Murray found himself in referee Dean Mohareb's book on 20 minutes with a wreckless tackle on Christian Slater just inside the Chasetown half. A minute later Richard Davies almost curled a corner into the top right of David Grof's net but to the Mansfield keepers delight it had just too much height on it. With 27 minutes on the clock Ramone Stephens continued to torment Mansfield on the right and flashed over a cross that Gary Birch ambled onto and hit well wide. Birch really does have the frame of a sunday league striker, and his inability to keep up to the pace of the game put his side at an attacking disadvantage. Another great move by Chasetown saw them surge forward from the left this time and a hard driven low cross from Daniel Smith caused havoc before Dan Spence managed to bungle it over the dead ball line for a corner. Yet another class move from Chasetown saw Jevons' effort blocked in the 33rd minute. 

  

                                   Mansfield gathered the ball and Ashley Cain set off on a pacey run down the right wing and delivered a perfect cross that Mansfield Captain Adam Murray fired into the top left corner of the net to give Mansfield the lead. That really seemed to take the wind out of Chasetown's sails and Mansfield continued to pile on the pressure for the remainder of the first half. The half time score was 1-0 to Mansfield and Chasetown would have been feeling it as they could have put this game out of reach in the first half hour.

                                       Mansfield Started the second half brightly with three guilt edged chances in the first two minutes of the second half, unfortunately the finishing did not match the build up and the moves broke down. On 52 minutes Dan Spence fouled Ramone Stephens on the right side edge of the Mansfield box and Chasetown had a very dangerous free kick. The ball was floated in by Christopher peel and in yet another goalkeeping howler against Chasetown David Grof flapped at the cross the ball landed at the feet of Ben Jevons after a goal line scramble and he fired the ball home from 1 yard out to level the game at 1-1.

                                         Chasetown struggled to keep their composure and Mansfield hit straight back within two minutes. Another great cross from Ashley Cain was met by Paul Connor who saw his header rebound off of the crossbar and fall at the feet of Danny Mitchley who poked a toe at it and it hit the post, the ball came back into open play and Louis Briscoe rifled it toward the goal but Price managed to block it but Briscoe was there to head Mansfield back in front on 55 Minutes. There seemed to be some question by the referee whether the ball had crossed the line but on one of only a couple of occasions tonight the linesman made the right call and the goal was given. Mansfield had a couple of great chances in the next couple of minutes nad the game seemed to be opening up. 

                                                Chasetwon Decided to make a change in the 69th Minute bringing on John Branch for the very sluggish and ineffective Gary Birch. This was followed five minutes later by a double substitution for Chasetown with Steven Abbot replacing James Turner and Gary Hay replacing Ramone Stephens. Two minutes later Paul Connor broke free on the left and whipped in a beauty of a cross leaving Mitchley no problem in tucking the ball neatly into the roof of the net. 14  minutes remaining and Mansfield Town where leading 3-1. A place in the Semi Final was there's for the taking now. Chasetown never got back into the match and Mansfield continued to squander chance after chance until the 89th minute when the biggest cheer of all came in the form of a roof goal. The abandoned Bishop street stand was the place of the action this time as the ball landed directly in the square hole in the roof the stadium erupted, you would have thought England had just won the world cup. An announcement soon followed that Dan Spence had been awarded man of the match, which i thought was a bit harsh on Ashley Cain who was involved in everything good that Mansfield did today. The whistle finally went and Chasetown where brought back down to earth with a bump. The Chasetown Players went over to pay their fans a visit and applauded them, but their dreams where left in tatters and Mansfield march on to face Luton on Sunday 13th March 12 noon Kick Off.

Goals

Mansfield town

Murray 35

Briscoe 55

Mitchley 76

Chasetown

Jevons 52

Yellow Cards

Murray (Mansfield) 20

Match Report by Paul Lewis