Mansfield Town 0 v Newport County 0 - Newport won on penalties after extra time - EFL League 2 - Play Off Semi Final 2nd Leg

Sunday 12th May 2019
SkyBet EFL League Two - Play Off Semi Final - 2nd Leg
at Field Mill - One Call Stadium
Mansfield Town (0) 0
Newport County (0) 0
Newport won on penalties after extra time
Attendance: 7361 (inc. 1118 away fans)
Point & hope photo gallery: Click HERE

The Stags wound up (or wound down, you could say) their 2018-19 campaign with a disappointing and indifferent run of form, that has seen them wobbling unconvincingly through their last twenty League Two outings, culminating in an anti-climax of just one win from their final five league games... and by virtue of having lost the last three of them, Mansfield Town missed out on an automatic promotion spot and finished the season three points behind both second placed Bury and third placed MK Dons. With the latter of them beating the Stags 1-0 at Stadium MK last Saturday afternoon, to condemn David Flitcroft's side to the play offs.
Yet there were rumblings from behind the scenes at the club, in the build up to the first leg of the semi final at Newport, of disharmony in the camp, over certain parties wanting bonus payments for having qualified for the play offs.

So let's not beat about the bush... they didn't qualify. A lack of consistency and some questionable leadership, actually saw the Stags fail miserably in their quest to win promotion and unless rewarding failure was an option, then no extra payments were warranted.
The play offs are merely a consolation prize, for a team that should've had a top three berth and a place in League One sewn up, long before their fate this season, ever went down to the wire.
If David Flitcroft is relieved of his duties any time soon, then that might look like a rash and harsh decision to any onlooker, watching on from the periphery of a campaign that was steeped in so much promise for such long time... but I reckon that such a move is almost inevitable, given his untimely financial demands on the club who have already backed him to the hilt.
Though it needs to be said at this juncture, that is merely my own opinion... and everybody else is entitled to theirs too.

Tonight's visitors: Newport County, who did genuinely qualify for the play offs (as opposed to plunging into them, from a seemingly impregnable higher position, like Flitcroft's side did), on the back of a ten game unbeaten run, were promoted into the Football League at the end of the 2012-13 season, after beating Wrexham in the the Blue Square Bet Premier play-off Final at Wembley (the first ever all Welsh final to be played at the stadium).
That was, of course, the same year that the Stags, then managed by Paul Cox, won promotion back into the league as Conference champions, five loooong years after suffering relegation at the end of the 2007-08 season.

As an aside, I don't know if this is a first or not, but with Tranmere Rovers and Forest Green Rovers making up the quartet who are competing to gain a place in League 1, alongside the other promoted clubs: Lincoln City, Bury and MK Dons, all four of this year's League 2 play off contenders have previously played in the Conference in the recent past.
Incidentally, Tranmere beat Forest Green 1-0 at Prenton Park in the first leg of their semi on Friday night and meet again tomorrow night to determine who'll play Newport in the final on Saturday May 25th.
In the first leg of this semi final, played on Thursday night, it finished all square at Rodney Parade, with a late goal from Padraig Amond rescuing a 1-1 draw for the Exiles, when he pounced onto the loose ball after Conrad Logan had saved his penalty kick, that had been awarded after Adebayo Azeez tumbled over Logan. as the Stags keeper pushed the ball away at the Newport substitutes feet.

Logan got to the ball before both players momentum caused the collision that saw Azeez to go to ground... and though the referee had no hesitation in awarding a spot kick, I personally thought that the decision was harsh on the Stags keeper, who'd pulled off a string of top drawer saves throughout the night, to preserve the Stags one goal advantage, that CJ Hamilton had given them with an angled strike from Tyler Walker's well weighted pass in the twelfth minute.

Tonight, as a consequence of a penalty shoot out victory, after extra time, as the two sides played out a goalless draw, and couldn't be separated over two hours of pulsating football, it is Newport County

who will be heading to Wembley, to vye for the opportunity of playing League 1 football next season, thanks to their goalkeeper Joe Day who saved Tyler Walker's penalty, Mansfield's third spot kick, while Newport successfully converted all five of theirs.
The visitors were by far the best team during the first half, but Mansfield got into the game more after the interval and going into extra time. But ultimately, it was Michael Flynn's Newport side who perhaps had the better of things overall.
Perhaps the final outcome was harsh on Mansfield, especially after a couple of glaring refereeing errors in the first leg at Rodney Parade, but that said, sometimes in life you reap what you sow and the dice had been cast several weeks before tonight's lively encounter.

Tonight: Josh Sheehan went close twice, with Logan keeping out his first chance from twenty yards with a good stop, before he put the ball wide from close range after being picked out by  Dan Butler's delivery into the Stags area.
Padraig Amond almost broke the deadlock from a tight angle, before Ben Turner did well to block Robbie Willmott's effort that was otherwise destined for the back of the net.
Newport also hit the crossbar twice before half time, through Joss Labadie and a deflection off of Turner, who'd put his body in the way and taken one for the team again.

Mansfield stepped up the ante after the break, and Walker drilled a shot wide just wide of the target, while Danny Rose hooked the ball over the bar from CJ Hamilton's cutback from the dead ball line.
But the visitors still had a big say in the second half too, with Scot Bennett crashing a long range shot against the bar for Newport as they hit the woodwork for a third time, before Sheehan's well struck volley was brilliantly pushed away by Logan at full stretch.
Meanwhile, at the other end, Day got his fingertips to the ball to deny Walker's fierce strike.
With extra time beckoning, Logan once again denied Newport, thwarting Jamille Matt, while Walker missed a great chance to wrap up the game, with the goal at his mercy just after the 'man of the match': Alex MacDonald headed narrowly wide.

Both sides created further chances during a frantic half a hour of extra time, and it had particularly looked like a 'game over' situation, when Day denied Walker, making a point blank save with his legs, moments before Regan Poole blocked the ball on the line, from Rose's shot on the rebound. But it came to pass that a whole season's worth of football... that's ten months, forty six league games and two play off semi finals, would all be decided by s penalty shoot out.

Newport, in front of their own fans, started the penalty lottery... and netted with all five of their subsequent efforts, even though Logan got a hand to Amond's strike. Nicky Ajose and Hamilton both found the net for the Stags, but then Day kept out Walker's effort... Krystian Pearce, Mansfield's captain, advanced forward from the centre circle to put a supportive arm around the disconsolate Walker as he trudged away from the scene. 

Mal Benning converted Mansfield’s next penalty, via both posts (as if there wasn't enough tension and drama already!), but then Matt Dolan stepped up and comfortably put away his side's fifth kick, meaning that there would be no need for the Stags to take their last one... Newport were going to Wembley and Mansfield were staying in League Two.

FT: Mansfield Town 0 v Newport County 0

David Flitcroft was brought in last season, at no small expense, with the mandate to finish off the job that his treacherous predecessor; Steve Evans, had started and to take the club into League One. Following an indifferent start to his tenure, the team fell some way short of that ambition. But, he's been backed to hilt to finish the job off this term instead... and though fourth place and a crack at the play offs will be seen as a reasonable return by many, that isn't the end product that he was employed to deliver.

And I strongly suspect that his days at Mansfield Town will be numbered now.

Footnote. Added Tuesday 14th May:

David Flitcroft is no longer the manager of Mansfield Town. John Dempster, the club's Academy manager (a former Stags player himself) has been promoted to take over the first team job. 

Newport County will now face Tranmere Rovers at Wembley Stadium, in the League 2 play off final, after they drew 1-1 in the second leg of their semi final at Forest Green Rovers, and won the tie 2-1 on aggregate.