Mansfield Town 2 v Luton Town 2 - BSBP

Sunday 18th November 2012, at Field Mill/One Call Stadium
Blue Square Bet Premier Division
MANSFIELD TOWN  (1) 1
Ben Hutchinson 8, Matt Green 85
LUTON TOWN  (1) 1
Andre Gray 26, 67
Admission: £18 West Stand Upper - £17 West Stand Lower - £15 Quarry Lane End.
Programme £3, Attendance 2,619 (inc. 522 from Luton)

Left click team sheet picture for enlarged version

Substitutions:
Mansfield Town -Matt Green for Nick Wright 64, Jake Speight for Ben Hutchinson 69, Matt Rhead for Lindon Meikle 76
Luton Town - Stuart Fleetwood for Andre Gray 90
Sunday afternoon football. Not ideal for everybody, but it suited me just fine this weekend, ta very much :-)

Match details on BBC Sport website

Match details on Luton Town website

Match details on Mansfield Town website

Under fire Stags boss Paul Cox, took the courageous decision, to leave Matt Green on the bench this afternoon, against play off chasing Luton Town.
As psychological motivation goes, it was an astute decision, because although it gave Mansfield's other strikers a chance to shine, Green was evidently fired up and out to prove a point when he was finally introduced into the game with 25 minutes left to go.
Paul Cox doesn't always get everything right and his step up to the Blue Square Bet Premier has proven to be a steep learning curve for the Stags manager at times, since he switched to Field Mill from Eastwood Town, but credit where it's due today.

This afternoon's game was fairly evenly balanced, with the Stags perhaps shading possession percentage wise, but only by a whisker.
Ben Hutchinson headed Mansfield in front from one of Exodus Geohaghon's trademark long throw ins, from out on the right wing, after 8 minutes.
Both of Luton's goals came from the same source, namely Andre Gray capitalising on a couple of defensive lapses.
After Luton had scored their second goal, the Hatters enjoyed a spell where they pushed on, in a bid to increase their lead and Shane Redmond needed to pull off a great stop from Scott Rendell to keep the home side in the game.

Now that on loan goalkeeper Liam Mitchell has returned to Notts County, the Stags are going to have to rely on Redmond as cover for the injured Alan Marriott and the big Irishman wasn't found wanting when it came to crunch time against the Hatters.
Of course, he was the hero of Mansfield's midweek penalty shoot out in the FA Cup replay at Slough too.
Shane Redmond has waited patiently in the wings for a long time now and will be relishing the opportunity to finally prove himself with the first team.
That vital save, set up a grandstand finish.
Chris Clements free kick was flicked across the face of the Luton goal and Matt Green was on hand, to end his uncharacteristic dry spell in front of goal.
Hopefully now he's back on the score sheet, finding the back of the net is going to become a regular habit for Green again.
FT - Mansfield Town 2 v Luton Town 2

Next up:
Monday 19th November, Staveley Miners Welfare U19 v Southwell City U19, at Inkersall Road, Staveley, S43 3JL