Mansfield Town 2 v Bolton Wanderers 1 - PSF

Saturday 16th July 2016
Pre-Season Friendly
at the One Call Stadium, Field Mill
Mansfield Town (2) 2
Danny Rose 11, Krystian Pearce 23
Bolton Wanderers (0) 1
Zach Clough 54
Admission £10
Programme £1 - Covering today's game and Tuesday night's visit of Hull City... and it also folds out into a 2016-17 fixtures poster. All good stuff, eh!?
Attendance - 1481 (216 in the away end)

Aerial panoramic view of the Stags innovative poster/programme

Mansfield Town:
Scott Shearer (Brian Jensen 66), Rhys Bennett (Adi Yussuf 80), Krystian Pearce (Corbin Shires 73), George Taft (Louis Danquah 79), Mal Benning (Adam Chapman 43), Lee Collins, Kevan Hurst (Mitch Rose 67), Chris Clements (Jamie McGuire 75), Ashley Hemmings (CJ Hamilton 57), Danny Rose (James Baxendale 59), Matt Green (Pat Hoban 59).
Bolton Wanderers:
Amos (Howard 46), Moxey (Honeyball 73), Dervite (Wheater 64), Beevers (Finney 64), Vela (Pratley 64), Taylor (Clayton 46), Clough (Woolery 64), Davies (Walker 70), Trotter (Spearing 64), Proctor (Madine 64), Wilson (Spooner 78).
Unused subs - Twardzik, Newell

As we passed through Clipstone, just by the old colliery site, mien spouse let out an urgent cry of: "Stop here, you need to pull over!"
I diligently complied and came to an abrupt halt, while asking 'er indoors 'whatever is the problem!?'
"Oh, there isn't one" she retorted and alighted from my motor conveyance brandishing her mobile phone in her hand exclaiming gleefully, "The old pit is awash with Pokemon, I need to catch them all!"
Err... no she doesn't!

There is a time and a place for her juvenile excesses, but disrupting my trip to Field Mill on a Saturday afternoon isn't one of them, so I coerced her back into the car by promising her faithfully, cross my heart and hope to die n' all that, that the Major Oak, the former home of the man of the people that was Robin Hood, was swarming with fictitious Japanese cartoon figures, including some really rare ones and that we would stop off there on the way home.

Truth be told, I'd actually no intention whatsoever of cutting back through Edwinstowe really, but my little white lie did buy me some time and offer a temporary solution to her increasingly odd behaviour.
I despair at what is happening to this country and the vicarious escapist pursuits that adults are indulging in, while turning a blind eye to potential powder keg of lies, spin, political extortion and deceit.
Maybe I am morphing into a Victor Meldrew type character and accelerating downhill quite fast in that general direction, but FFS!
What is the world coming to?
Pokemon is for kids, end of!

And though it is great that children are latching onto a new craze app called 'Pokemon Go', that gets them out and about in the fresh air, instead of vegging out in front of their game consoles and hogging the big telly in the front room... as regards the participation of so called grown ups in the children's game that is sweeping the nation: "I don't beleve it!"
Get a bleedin' life suckers!

 

Out on the actual field of play, where a grown up game was taking place, 'twas a performance full of promise from the Stags this afternoon, most definitely their best outing so far this pre-season by some way, going on the evidence of the games I've seen thus far.
Of course it would be unwise to get carried away by a good showing against a League 1 club in a friendly match, but Adam Murray's preparations do seem to be taking shape at the correct pace for his team to peak at just the right time.
Hope springs eternal all around. Well, at least I'm cautiously optimistic that a play off place is a realistic target this season. even if you're not.
Mansfield Town certainly have a better team/squad than they did have twelve months ago at the outset of the 2015-16 term, when I predicted (correctly for once) a mid table finish, or thereabouts, even the the Stags surpassed expectations and nuzzled in among the front runners for a while and almost had us believing that they were serious contenders.
With the current team, I would be genuinely disappointed if they don't stay the course and secure a top eight finish this time around.

After making a lively opening to the game, Mansfield went ahead on 11 minutes when Clements knocked the ball forward to Matt Green, who took the ball down on his chest, before seeing off a clumsy and mistimed challenge and nudging a sideways pass to Danny Rose, who only needed the slightest of touches to open the scoring from close range.
(D) Rose was involved again on 23 minutes, when he was fouled out on the right flank and from the resulting free kick Mal Benning picked Krystian Pearce out and he directed the ball into the back of the net and beyond the reach of Ben Amos, from the edge of the six yard box.

Mark Beevers, the Bolton skipper came off second best when he tried to lunge into Green with an unnecessary foul near the halfway line, but stayed on the ground requiring treatment himself, while the Mansfield striker rode the challenge and amused himself replacing divots in the pitch, while his would be assailant writhed and winced in pain.
Just before the break, Scott Shearer did well to keep Mark Davies at bay with a fine save, when it had looked odds on that the Trotters were about to half the deficit.

It was refreshing to hear the home crowd making a fair amount of appreciative noise as the teams left the pitch for their half time oranges and vapor rub.
HT: Stags 2 v Wanderers 0
After having by far the better of things in the first half, the Stags found the visitors to be a much more lively and dangerous proposition during the second half, but having demonstrated no small amount of attacking prowess thus far, they showed their collective defensive mettle in the second half, where the visitors, who were relegated from the Championship at the end of last term and currently rebuilding under the leadership of their new management team of Phil Parkinson and Steve Parkin (the former Mansfield player and manager), only breached the home side's back line when they took advantage of
an individual error from Adam Chapman, when he gave the ball away cheaply to Max Clayton, who in a flash teed a precision ball into the path of Zach Clough who planted the ball into the very corner of the net.

It was good to see Louis Danquah and Corbin Shires getting some more first team minutes under their belts late in the game, with even more of the Under 18 side penciled in to be involved on Tuesday night v Hull City too, even though the Stags veteran keeper Brian Jensen had to save the latter players blushes, when he bravely blocked a shot but very nearly deflected the ball past the veteran keeper.
All in all, a very encouraging run out for the Stags. with several noteworthy stand out performances combining greatly to the overall team effort.
I'll pick out Rhys Bennett, Mal Benning and Krystian Pearce as the stars of the show, from what was a very pleasing afternoon's entertainment.
More of the same please.
FT: Mansfield Town 2 v Bolton Wanderers 1