Sheffield FC 2 v AFC Mansfield 0 - NPL East Division

Saturday 17th November 2018
EvoStik Northern Premier League (East)
at the Coach & Horses Ground
AKA 'the Home of Football'
Sheffield FC (0) 2
Adam Chapman 50
Jim Gregory 52
AFC Mansfield (0) 0
Attendance 379

In which the oldest club in the known universe, played host to the most recently conceived team in the entire Northern Premier League.
Sheffield hadn't played in a competitive game since November 3rd, when they beat Ossett United 3-0 at home, although they did play a friendly against their neighbouring fellow non league side Chesterfield on Tuesday night.

The Bulls have been in FA Trophy action over this past week, drawing 2-2 at the Forest Town Arena against Pickering Town last Saturday, before losing 0-2 in the replay on Tuesday night, after getting held up traffic congestion en route to North Yorkshire, which meant that they had to kick off at the delayed time of 8.30PM, sans any kind of a warm up beforehand.
Today, as the visitors management team of Rudy Funk and Mark Ward shuffled their pack, two new signings: Julian Topliss and Harry Wakefield went straight into their starting line up.

Alas, Topliss only lasted thirty minutes, when he was replaced by Cameron Dear, because he needs to be involved in a few of the more intense training sessions that'll be required to get his match fitness up to the levels that are required to compete in the Northern Premier League. Given the obstacles that he has overcome previously as a player, it is evident that he's not one to shy away from a challenge... and he'll be relishing the prospect of proving himself any time soon.

Mansfield made a lively start to the game and Wakefield went close to scoring the opening goal, just two minutes into his debut; when he dropped a shoulder, wrong-footed Stuart Ludlam and let fly with a dipping half volley that dropped just a fraction too late.
Wakefield outpaced Adam Chapman on the right hand side of the Bulls attack and crossed towards Phil Buxton, who also saw his close range effort narrowly clear the hosts cross bar.

It needs putting on record at this juncture, that Chapman wasn't beaten for pace again all afternoon and proved to be a mainstay in his sides win, on an afternoon that he was also the 'cover boy' on Stuart James' excellent match day programme.
Mitch Dunne, put in a burst of pace on the left for 'Club', but Tom Crosby anticipated where his cross was heading and comfortably collected the ball.
Charlie Dawes could've had a quick fire hat trick within the space of a few minutes, as he saw two strikes under pressure fly just wide of the woodwork, while Ludlam did well to get his body in the way of a third, to deflect the ball away at the expense of a corner.

As the midway point approached, Gavin Smith's side began to make some in roads of their own, deep into Mansfield territory; Marc Newsham took up possession on the edge of the Bulls area and rolled it back into the path of Ben Turner, who was arriving on the scene like a runaway express train, but his shot flew high and wide of Crosby's goal.
Dunne went close with a snapshot from eighteen yards, while the lively Ash Grayson, saw his angled cross/shot across the six yard box from the right, fly wide of the left hand upright.

In first half stoppage time, Phil Buxton's right wing corner was cleared back towards him and his curling first time ball into the mix was tipped over at full stretch by Adam Kelsey.
HT: Club 0 v Bulls 0
Dunne had a couple of hopeful efforts during the first half, that didn't really trouble Crosby unduly, but his non stop running and the nuisance he had been creating didn't seem to go unnoticed in the visitors camp and the experienced Jon D'Laryea followed him around like a possessive Siamese twin after the restart.

The Bulls had just about shaded things in the first half, but the second was virtually dominated by Sheffield, who came out from the break firing on all cylinders, with Jordan Annable having to be alert from the off to cut out Grayson's cross towards Dunne inside the opening minute.

Gregory, whose willingness to run at the Bulls defence had an unsettling effect, curled a corner towards the near post, but Buxton was well placed to head the ball away.

A Sheffield goal certainly looked to be on the cards and as 'Club' piled forward, and sure enough; Chapman rose to meet Andy Gascoigne's deep cross from out on the right and powered in a header at the back post.
And within two minutes, Jimmy Gregory picked the ball up fifty yards from goal, charged right through the middle of the Bulls rearguard and rolled it into the bottom right hand corner of the net, past the exposed and virtually abandoned Crosby, from the edge of the area.

A flurry of substitutions briefly broke up Sheffield's attacking endeavors; however, they soon picked it up where they left off again, and ought to have been three goals to the good when Gregory fed an inviting diagonal pass through the Mansfield defence for Newsham who could only find the side netting.

Brad Wells was combining with Ghaichem and Dear on the right for the visitors, but Kelsey was dealing convincingly with the resulting balls into his area.

Dunne escaped from the attentions of D'Laryea momentarily and broke forward at pace, but Crosby got down quickly to dealt with his shot. D'Laryea himself drilled a slide rule pass forty yards forward to pick out the run of Wells, but Kelsey advanced quickly from his line to save bravely at the feet of the Bulls striker, whose momentum saw him accidentally collide with the 'Club' keeper.

Although Mansfield staged a late rally, Sheffield had shut up shop and looked just as convincing in defence as they had in attack at the beginning of the second half. Kelsey was called into action one last time, when Liam Marsden's long free kick found it's way through to Dawes via a slight deflection, but his downward header was well tipped away by the agile Sheffield keeper.

Chapman tried his luck with a long range shot late on: "Oi! Mind my effing car!", called out a voice on the terrace, in response to the accuracy (or lack of it) of the 'Club' captains shot; while, right at the death, Dunne tried to catch Crosby out with a looping shot from outside the area, but it didn't 'loop' anything like sharply enough and ended up dropping behind the goal.

It's always worth having a go from there though! And anyway, Dunne had done more than enough damage to the visitors back line this afternoon, without actually having to score.

To summarise: the 'power-play' at the outset of the second half proved to be enough for Sheffield to secure the three points, that they deserved in the end; though it could've been a closer run thing, if only the Bulls could've added the finishing touch to a few of the chances they created before the break, but all told, a fair result.
FT: Sheffield FC 2 v AFC Mansfield 0

The defeat saw AFC Mansfield slip into the bottom three places of the NPL (East) table, though they do have several games in hand over the teams directly above them; so at least their destiny is still in their own hands.
The Bulls now travel to Belper Town for a NPL Integro League Cup tie on Tuesday night, then next Saturday, these two sides face each other again, in a rearranged league fixture at the Forest town Arena.

"Brian, Brian, give us a wave!"