Wednesday 26 December 2018

Mansfield Town 2 v Bury 1 - EFL League 2

Wednesday 26th December 2018
SkyBet EFL League Two
at Field Mill (the One Call Stadium)
Mansfield Town (0) 2
CJ Hamilton 61
Tyler Walker 79 Pen
Bury FC (0) 1
Jay O'Shea 90+6 Pen
Attendance: 4,959 (inc. 516 away)
When these two sides met in the EFL Trophy earlier this Month, it would be something of an understatement, to say that the Stags weren't at their best, whereas Bury gave a very good account of themselves.
But, that was merely a 'Checkatrade' competition fixture, so... moving swiftly on.
Prior to that particular game, Bury and Mansfield Town has drawn 2-2 at Gigg Lane, in the corresponding League Two fixture earlier in the season, when Nick Maynard's equaliser in the fifth minute of stoppage time, salvaged a point for Ryan Lowe's side.
Both teams went into this Boxing Day clash, off of the back of wins at the weekend, with Bury seeing Tranmere Rovers off, 2-1 at home; while David Flitcroft's side overturned a half time deficit to claim a 3-1 win at Stevenage.
The Shakers began the afternoon in fourth place, with Mansfield in fifth, a point behind them, but with two games in hand... and boasting a proud record of only having lost just one league game all season thus far (against second placed Exeter City, back in September).
On the subject of David Flitcroft... he was actually Bury's manager the last time that they visited Field Mill for a League Two game, when they won 0-1, courtesy of an own goal by Ryan Taffazoli, back in March 2015.
The Gigg Lane outfit went on to gain promotion at the end of that season, having finished in third place, with a club record points total of 85.
However they finished in bottom place in League One at the end of last season.
But of course, that nice Mr Flitcroft had relocated to Mansfield by then, via a spell at Swindon Town, who by way of a coincidence are the Stags next visitors, this coming Saturday.
This afternoon's saw the Stags beat Bury for the first time since 2005, when once again the current Stags manager was involved, in  his capacity of a player for the Shakers, as goals  from Adam Murray and Adam Rundle yielded a win for Mansfield at Gigg Lane.
The margin of  victory today, only tells half the story, particularly as regards the second half, because this was a Stags performance that saw them Stags grow in stature throughout the game and become a dominant force after the break, after they had been 'shaken' several times, early in this contest against a very useful looking visiting side.
It was just after the hour mark when the Stags finally reaped the rewards of for their attacking endeavours, when Jacob Mellis, who was controlling the midfield exchanges, with the impressive Neal Bishop in tandem and Tomi Elsnik darting around covering several acres of ground, planted a measured ball forward into the path of CJ Hamilton, who paced towards the visitors goal before unleashing a shot, that the advancing Joe Murphy did well to block, but as the loose ball spun upwards, Hamilton carried on with his run to meet it on it's descent and headed home what was his seventh goal of the season.
Mellis, who on any other given day might have already claimed a couple of goals for himself, swung a corner kick into Murphy's six yard box,  which Danny rose met with his head forcing Nicky Adams into a goal line clearance, but as Bury scrambled to clear their lines, the match officials had spotted Adam Thompson grappling with Ryan Sweeney around his neck in a wrestling move that Mick McManus himself would've been proud of (younger readers ask your grandparents) and Tyler Wilson took responsibility from the resulting penalty, planting the ball into the left hand side of the net, while Murphy guessed wrong and dived in completely the opposite direction.
And (above) here is a birds eye and panoramic view of Walker's goal, captured in pixelated splendour, by my own shaking hand from section N, of the Ian Greaves West Stand upper tier.
Murphy denied Benning, Hamilton, Walker and Rose as the Stags tightened their grip on the game and a large number of the Bury fans decided to cut their losses and leave early.
The match sponsors chose Mal Benning as their man of the match... and he'd certainly put a good shift in and had played very well.
But, I would have thought personally that either Bishop or Mellis... and Hamilton perhaps, might have been in contention for that accolade too. But it bodes well that so many players are collectively on top of their game at peaking at the same time... and if that is the only talking point that people were 'debating' on their way out of the ground at ten to five, then there wasn't much wrong with today's team performance.
As the fourth official raise the board to signify that there would be five added minutes, Bury suddenly found a spring in their step... ans stopped falling over every time a Mansfield player went anywhere near them (I think that 'hitting the deck convincingly' is possibly one of their regular training drills).
In the sixth minute of that added time (plus one), Matt Preston fouled Nicky Maynard inside the Stags area... and Jay O’Shea netted a consolation goal from the resulting spot kick. But there wasn't time for Bury to snatch a stoppage time equaliser, like they had done earlier in the season... and the Stags climbed to third place in the table (with a game in hand over the two teams above them) as they chalked up their fifteenth consecutive unbeaten league game, a impressive run of form that has seen them claim nineteen of the last twenty one available points.
FT: Mansfield Town 2 v Bury 1
A result that flattered Bury, on the balance of the second half.
On Saturday, the Stags entertain mid table Swindon Town, while Bury travel to Notts County, who plummeted to the very bottom of League 2 this afternoon, by virtue of a 1-2 defeat against Macclesfield Town at Meadow Lane.
With it being the season of goodwill to all men, it would be wrong not to check on how the Stags old rivals Chesterfield were going on these days... so, for the record: they lost 0-4 at home against Solihull Moors, and they are currently struggling like a fish out of water, in the National League relegation places. It'd would be juvenile to gloat. Or, thinking back to when the shoe was on the other foot... would it!? It's a rhetorical question, I already know the answer.
One Call Stadium/ Field Mill... a Football League ground
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