Mansfield Town 1 v Colchester United 1 - EFL League 2

Saturday 10th March 2018
SkyBet EFL League 2
at the One Call Stadium/Field Mill
Mansfield Town (1) 1
Kane Hemmings 21
Colchester United (0) 1
Brandon Comley 51
Admission £20. Programme £3.
Attendance: 4,050 (inc. 163 away)

Mansfield Town went into this afternoon's fixture against Colchester United, on the back of an eleven home league games unbeaten run, having won six and drawn five of their most recent run outs at the Mill, including Tuesday night's finely balanced and incident packed encounter with Lincoln City.
Hence, if you're optimistic by nature, today's unconvincing performance that ended in a third 1-1 home draw on the bounce, clocks up yet another notch in that impressive sequence of results.

However if you're a tad on the pessimistic (realistic), or even cynical side, then six points have been squandered over the course of the Stags last three home games, all of which they had initially taken the lead in, but having done so, failed to hold onto their advantage.
By rule of thumb 'draw specialists' isn't a tag attached to teams that win honours, silverware, or promotions. And, just to put things into perspective, three points... is exactly the same total that you get for winning one out of every three games, while losing the other two.

Today's visitors arrived at Field Mill, tucked into the mid-table comfort zone, some eleven points behind the fifth placed Stags, and seven off the last play off place, with eleven games left to play. Mathematically then, everything is still up for grabs, as the 2017-18 term hurtles along at a breakneck pace towards the pivotal Easter period, which more often than not makes or breaks many a teams league campaign and offers a fair indication of who is going to be there, or thereabouts at least, at the end of the season.

Having taken a point from their high flying hosts, it is ironic that the U's then slipped down a place in the table, while Mansfield remain in fifth, three points behind Notts County who are currently occupying the last automatic promotion place. However, David Flitcroft's side have a game in hand over the Magpies, who they play at Meadow Lane next weekend.
The Stags (and Colchester, for that matter) have ten games remaining after today, to sustain/reignite* some kind of a promotion (or at least play off) challenge.

The visitors were obviously very happy with the result and their performance, as were their travelling band of supporters. And it must be said, that if they had taken a little more time, instead of rushing and wasting the decent shooting opportunities that Brennan Dickensen and Drey Wright had inside the opening twenty minutes, then all three of the points available this afternoon would've been heading south to Essex tonight, instead of just the solitary one.
I'd go as far as to say, the U's were probably the better side for several spells after half time and much as the Stags attack seemed to be labouring in an ineffective

manner at times, a lot of that was down to the way that the visitors organised and tightened up their defence after the break.
Which was the exact polar opposite of how they approached an error strewn first half, before addressing the situation during the interval team talk.
Mansfield have been demonstrating that they're struggling to defend a single goal lead at present, but by the same token, Colchester battled gamely to prevent the home side from building on their lead, particularly Sam Walker, who pulled off two worldly saves in quick succession inside the final five minutes, to deny both Mal Benning and Jacob Mellis.

Ironically, David flitcroft was the manager, at Swindon Town, the last time that Mansfield Town lost a game, on a day that the Wiltshire based club did actually win by virtue of sitting back and preserving a 1-0 half time advantage.
I'm not qualified to be a Football League manager or au fait with the latest trends of UEFA Pro Licence coaching principles; however, I am firmly of the belief that the best way to preserve a one goal lead, is to score another goal. Maybe that's too simplistic eh!?
But sitting back and allowing the opposition to bring it on, while patiently waiting to hit them on the counter attack, works some of the time, but is tantamount to inviting strangers to your party, plying them with booze and hoping that they're going to behave and not take advantage of your generosity.

The majority of the opening forty five minutes, was played in the Colchester half, with Mansfield looking like the side most likely to win the day, even though the visitors were guilty of a severe case of profligacy, when they did try to test Conrad Logan with a couple of breakaway efforts, and it did only seem to be a matter of time until the Stags would turn their pressing game into goals... or a goal as it turned out.

And the moment duly arrived in the twenty first minute, from a movement as direct as you'll ever see, when Logan launched a long high kick the full length of the pitch,that Kane Hemmings let bounce once before hooking the ball over the advancing Walkers head as it arced over the line, despite Tom Eastman's best efforts to make a last ditch clearance.

Danny Rose had a great effort to double the Stags lead moments later, but he shot straight at Walker, while Alex MacDonald's curling free kick flew narrowly wide of the top right stanchion as the Stags tried to make good their advantage.
Drey Wright was making all of the right runs inside the hosts defensive third of the pitch, persistently and patiently waiting for the right ball to fall to him, but when another opportunity arose just before the break, the lively Colchester number 7 was thwarted by Logan and the final action of the half saw Kurtis Guthrie squander a chance when he really ought to have done better. Not that I'm complaining.
HT: Stags 1 v U's 0

Shortly after the restart, Logan looked to have released CJ Hamilton as he sprinted towards the Quarry Lane End goal, but the crafty visitors defender Kane Vincent-Young moved across the path of Hamilton's run, slow down to affect a collision and blatantly took the ball down with his hand.
Where to start? Obstruction in the first instance, backing in as well, assimilation when the obvious coming together of the two players occurred (the Stags player lifted his arm to steady himself as Vincent-Young presented a human shield... and a deliberate handball.
Go on then referee, how many cards as the Colchester defender just earned himself there then!?
Err... precisely none. He penalised Hamilton for a push instead.

The referee would've had a clear view of all of the above if he'd been sat behind the goal, but alas, he wasn't. And truth be told, I wouldn't have wanted him sitting anywhere near me anyway.
But as a consequence of gaining an unfair advantage, the visitors realised that this was an official who could be 'played' and took full advantage of the opportunity to play tricks on him. I'm not going to condemn the visitors for manipulating the man in the middle, it's part and parcel of football. If you lose possession, fall over and get the ball back again and a free kick into the bargain, who wouldn't want a piece of that?

The Stags had been robbed of a goal scoring opportunity and to compound matters, when Ross Joyce signalled for the game to move on, Colchester went straight up the other end and scored, when Tom Lapsie's cross towards Logan's goalmouth, was only half cleared by Joel Byrom, into the path of Brandon Comley, who was afforded enough time and space to crash an angled shot from the right hand side of the area, across the face of the goal and into the far bottom corner of the net.

Mansfield's fans were certainly being treated to some cut price entertainment at the Mill today, with a Whitney Houston tribute act appearing at the club tonight, and a circus clown running around the pitch all afternoon, with a whistle hung around his neck, thrown in for the price of a match ticket. Not that any of the home support, were particularly amused by his circus antics.

For the record, Mr Joyce wasn't a cheat, he was just incompetent. It is a real shame that neither of his perfectly capable and better suited assistants couldn't have replaced him in the the middle, to give him the opportunity to terrorise people on the touchline with custard pies and impress the ball boys with his juggling skills.

MacDonald swung a corner kick towards Paul Digby, who met it with a thumping header that skimmed off of the head of Vincent-Young as it crashed against the crossbar... y'know, the same U's player who should've been dismissed for the aforementioned mullarkey with Hamilton.

Hate is too strong a word, because football really is only a game, but I was beginning to severely dislike this Kane Vincent-Young character. Though I suppose that you have to admire his cunning and concede that you'd be peeing yourself if one of the Stags team had got away with what he had.

The Stags had to go for broke now and Danny Rose could only find the side netting from a tight angle, who had been put through after a lung busting run forward by Krystian Pearce.

Haydn White attacked Colchester down the right and his cross found it's way to Benning on the edge of the area, who struck a sweetly hit shot to Walker's right, but the U's keeper got across to make a great save and as the rebound fell to Mellis, who cushioned a header towards the opposite top corner, that Walker somehow managed to reach and tip behind for a corner.

Pearce signalled to MacDonald who aimed the flag kick to meet his run into the area, but he powered his header inches over the bar.

Deep into stoppage time, Mansfield were forced into clearing a corner that had be aimed towards Guthrie, while I breathed a sigh of relief that Vincent-Young wasn't around to challenge for the ball given how his afternoon had been going thus far.

A fair result all told.

FT: Mansfield Town 1 v Colchester United 1

Both teams have blank midweeks coming up, with Colchester entertaining Yeovil Town next weekend, while the Stags travel to Notts County, where they will be backed by a sell out away following.