Field Mill, Mansfield
Attendance 2295 (525)
Full Time
Mansfield Town 3-1 Chasetown
Starting Line-ups
30 David Grof 1 Ryan Price
2 Gary
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
29 Adam Murray© 10 Daniel Smith
35 Danny Mitchley 11 Ben Jevons
Subs
1 Alan Marriot(GK) 12 Gary
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
well done to the stags and all the best for saturday
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