Mansfield Town 0 v Oldham Athletic 0 - EFL League 2

Tuesday 2nd October 2019
SkyBet EFL League Two
at Field Mill/One Call Stadium
Mansfield Town (0) 0
Oldham Athletic (0) 0
Attendance: 3829 inc. 411 away

David Flitcroft's side remain in fourteenth place following this goalless and frustrating draw, whereby they threw everything they had at Oldham, from the off, but despite being the dominant side, the Stags had to settle for a draw, after the numerous chances they had created over the course of the game went begging.
Truth be told, Mansfield could (and probably should) have been home and dry by half time, but were left cursing both their luck in front of the Latics goal and the agility of the visitors keeper Daniel Iverson.

Both teams had won at the Weekend, with Oldham Picking up three points on the road at Colchester courtesy of a 1-2 win, while the Stags emphatically beat Northampton Town 4-0, a result that ultimately cost their visitors manager Dean Austin his job, following a slow start to the season. The Cobblers replaced Austin with the former Stags manager (and player) Keith Curle. The Cobblers also drew 0-0 tonight at the Sixfields Stadium against against Bury, the side that Mansfield will face at Gigg Lane on Saturday... and who were of course, previously managed by the current Stags boss.

Football, eh!? It's all linked together by ley lines... like a big game of Twister involving former footballers whose chosen career path was to hop aboard the managerial merry-go-round.

Iverson came to the visitors rescue inside the opening five minutes, when he got down sharply to his left to turn the ball away, after Peter Clarke almost headed Otis Khan's free kick into his own goal.

Danny Rose picked out CJ Hamilton's run on the right with a raking pass and his cross fell perfectly for Khan, six yards out, but with the goal at his mercy, the Stags number hooked his shot against the crossbar.
The Stags then had another great chance to open the scoring, when Danny Rose flicked the ball on to Tyler Walker, who took it down in his stride, but drilled his shot just wide of the left hand upright, when it looked easier to score... which is all well and good for me to say, surveying the scene from the upper tier of the West Stand.

The Oldham keeper Iversen was forced into making three great stops before the break; twice denying Hamilton, who was terrorising the visitors defence on the right hand side of the Stags attack, with the visitors number one being stretched to the limits, particularly when he tipped an absolute screamer of a long range angled shot over his bar, while in between times, Rose set up another chance for Walker who was also thwarted by Iversen.
Timi Elsnik delivered two crosses to Walker as the first half drew to a close, but the on loan Nottingham Forest striker, couldn't quite keep either resulting header on target.
HT: Stags 0 v Latics 0

Despite the one way nature of the first half, while-so-ever the game was still goalless, the Stags were always in danger of succumbing to a sucker punch... and Jose Baxter (too high) and Rob Hunt (too wide) both had shots on Bobby Olejnik's goal early in the second half.
But on the balance of play, if Oldham had nicked the win tonight, it would only have been by virtue of having Dick Turpin playing up front.
Hamilton picked out Mel Benning with a cross to the back stick from the right, from which he powerfully struck the ball on the volley, but it ended up in the side netting via the outside of the post.
Elsnik and Hamilton both had shot's deflected high and wide of the target, as the Oldham defence belatedly decided to join in and help their overworked keeper out.

Neal Bishop, in the heart of the Stags midfield, needs singling out for his outstanding hard work in the middle of the park, where he battled gamely for everything all night... it was good to hear that the match sponsors had also picked up on his input and gave him the man of the match award.
As the clock ticked down, Hamilton fed a pass to Graig Davies (a second half substitute and former Latics player) who delivered a dipping cross towards Will Atkinson (a half time sub), but as he stooped to meet the ball, he directed his header just past the left hand post.
FT: Mansfield Town 0 v Oldham Athletic 0

Oldham got lucky tonight, but fair play to their goalkeeper Daniel Iversen, who had an outstanding game, especially in the first half.

And personal thanks to a Stags steward, going by the name of Irene Shilton, without who there wouldn't have been a blog report tonight... cheers mi' duck! It's a good job that somebody takes stationery items to football matches, when forgetful old bloggerists leave theirs at home.