Mansfield Town 1 v Lincoln City 1 - EFL League 2

Monday 18th March 2019
SkyBet EFL League Two
at Field Mill (the One Call Stadium)
Mansfield Town (1) 1
Krystian Pearce 4
Lincoln City (0) 1
John Akinde 75 pen
Attendance: 7,177 (inc. 1603 away fans)

Mansfield Town:
Logan , Benning, Preston, Pearce (C), Bishop, Mellis (Tomlinson 90+2), Sweeney, Walker, Jones, Hamilton, Grant (MacDonald 59)
Unused subs - Smith (GK), Khan, Ajose, Turner, A. Smith.
Lincoln City:
Gilks (GK), O’Connor (Pett 67), O’Hara, Andrade, Toffolo, Bostwick, Rowe, Eardley (C), Bolger, Anderson, Akinde (Rhead 90+3)
Unused subs - Vickers (GK), Frecklington, Angol, Wilson, McCartan

Prior to tonight, these two sides had already met twice this season, at Sincil Bank, with the Stags claiming a 1-2 win in the EFL Trophy, back in September, while the league fixture in November finished one-apiece, after Kellan Gordon had put the Imps ahead with just four minutes remaining, before that lead was cancelled out by Jacob Mellis, in the third minute of stoppage time.
So all the indications were that this Monday night game, in front of the Sky TV cameras, would be a close run thing too. And so it proved to be.

The Stags recent stop/start form, coupled with an indifferent sequence of results, had seen them slip out of the automatic places (albeit by a solitary point, with a game in hand over third placed MK Dons), as they welcomed League Two leaders Lincoln City, to Field Mill. But as a consequence of this 1-1 draw, David Flitcroft's side clawed
their way back up into one of those all important top three berths, on goal difference, with just eight games of the season remaining, while the Imps maintained a six point lead over second placed Bury, who are four points ahead of Mansfield, but have a game in hand over both of tonight's teams, as do fifth placed Tranmere Rovers who are currently five points behind the Stags.
Will the real Mansfield Town please stand up!?

The hosts took the lead inside the fourth minute, when Harry Toffolo was forced into turning Gethin Jones cross behind at the expense of a corner, and  Krystian Pearce headed home at the near post from Mal Bennings' right  hand side delivery... despite Mark O'Hara's rather lame attempts to unsettle the Mansfield captain, by manhandling him, while Pearce stood firm and concentrated on the job in hand.
Watched by their highest home crowd of the season: 7,177, a decent turnout for a Monday night game that was being shown live on the telly, the home side had the better of the game initially, but didn't kill it off when they were in the ascendancy, and in the final reckoning, a draw was probably a just result, given how the Imps ground out a result in the second half.

Tyler Walker had a great chance to double the Stags lead, but shot wide when he was well placed to do better, following some impressive link up play, between Neal Bishop, Jorge Grant and CJ Hamilton in the build up.
The match referee, Graham Scott, came to the Imps rescue, yellow carding Jorge Grant for going to ground under a challenge from Michael O'Connor, for apparent assimilation, even though subsequent replays confirmed that Grant had indeed been tripped. Although Grant didn't have the benefit of VAR on the night, it's a shame that he didn't have a 'phone a friend' option either, because anybody watching the game at home could've clarified the matter.

Michael Bostwick almost levelled things up before the break, but his goal-bound effort was blocked en route, on the goal-line, by his own teammate, Harry Anderson... so we can all sleep comfortably tonight now, secure in the knowledge that both clubs had a massive let off in the first half, and this sort of football karma does even itself out after all. And I was just pretending to be foaming at the mouth with anger, aimed at the match officials as they left the field of play at half time and headed for their half time oranges and opticians appointments.

HT: Stags 1 v Imps 0

Lincoln picked things up during the second half, as their management duo: the Cowley brothers, displayed over the top character traits and histrionics that would put Steve Evans and Paul Raynor (an unemployed former Football League management team) to shame. Sit down and shut the f*ck up! You're making yourselves look bloody stupid, especially when your team is running away with the title anyway, and there is no need whatsoever to rant and rave about each and every single decision during the course of a game.

The equaliser came in the seventy fifth minute, when the Stags failed to clear the ball and Conrad Logan charged out of his goal and clumsily took out Anderson as he advanced into the penalty area.
Many people pointed the finger of blame at the hosts keeper, but, although it was his offence that led to the spot kick being, if they rewound the game a few seconds, the initial fault was made by Benning, who should have made a better job of clearing the danger at source.
John Akinde calmly dispatched the 'penno' past Logan and the game was heading for a draw.
Matt Gilks thwarted CJ Hamilton as the Stags were left to rue not capitalising on the amount of the ball they saw during the first half, when they were in the ascendancy.

But Lincoln aren't top of the table for nothing... and they set out their stall to do what needed to be done after half time.

FT: Mansfield Town 1 v Lincoln City 1

I've been told by people who watched the game on TV, that this was a good advertisement for League 2 football all told. 

In response, I could've replied: "It's always like this... you don't know what you've been missing!", while adding that: "The moon is made of cream cheese, the two main political parties in this country both have leaders inspire heaps of confidence in me... and the dish ran away with the spoon!",  just to give my slightly ambiguous claim, an even more authentic sounding touch. 

The Stags now need to stand up and be counted, while raising their game and maintaining the tempo against all manner of opposition, not just (for spells) against the better teams.
The requisite application was there during the first half tonight, but it is a matter of some concern, that the work rate and focus seemed to tail off after the interval, which allowed Lincoln to take advantage.
It would take an end of season crash of calamitous proportions for them to fall out of contention for a place in the four team lottery, that is the end of season play-offs now, but I do genuinely feel that they still need to find an extra 20% in their performance levels, over the whole duration of all of their remaining games, to maintain the kind of form that will be required to claim the reward of a top three finish, and automatic promotion.
That isn't a criticism, it's a concern... and believe me, I really hope that they smash the few lingering doubts that I currently have to smithereens, any time soon.