Tuesday 13h August 2019
Carabao EFL League Cup First Round
at Field Mill/the One Call Stadium
Mansfield Town (0) 2
Krystian Pearce 57
Omari Sterling-James 68
Morecambe (1) 2
Steve Old 18, 59
Morecambe won 5-6 on penalties
Attendance: 1.884 (inc. 66 away fans)
Mansfield Town:
Logan, White, Benning, Pearce (C), Khan, Donohue (Tomlinson 46), Sweeney, Cook (Rose 66), Gordon, Hamilton (Sterling-James 66), Smith.
Unused subs - Stone (GK), Clarke, Sinclair, Gibbens
Morecambe:
Halstead, Conlan, Old, Alessandra (Kenyon 46), Sutton (Buxton 76), Brewitt, Lavelle (C), Oates (O’Sullivan 76), Miller, Tanner, Cranston.
Unused subs - Roche (GK), Stockton, Ellison, Jagne
Post match analysis shows that Mansfield Town had dominated possession tonight, by a ratio of 71/29%, while mustering a total of twenty one attempts on goal , as opposed to Morecambe's six.
Alas, statistics don't win football matches... and having twice taken the lead, only to be pegged back on both occasions by a determined Stags side, it was Jim Bentley's Shrimps who won a place in the second round, when they will travel to the East Midlands again to face Burton Albion, via a penalty shoot-out victory.
The visitors took the lead in the eighteenth minute, when Lewis Alessandra picked out Steven Old with a well worked corner kick routine, that saw the Shrimps number five evade his marker before planting an emphatic header past Conrad Logan.
Luke Conlan was shown a straight red card for a reckless and needless foul on Kellan Gordon, four minutes after the visitors had taken a lead and Morecambe were reduced to ten men.
Andy Cook had two chances to level things up for the hosts, but was unlucky to see his initial effort come back off of the crossbar, before heading the ball just wide moments later. Both opportunities were created by Mal Benning, who was getting forward to good effect in support of the Mansfield attack.
Ali Smith, who put in a great shift in midfield, went close with a long range dipping shot before the half time break, but Morecambe held on to their slender interval lead.
HT: Mansfield Town 0 v Morecambe 1
The game was almost a hour old, when Krystian Pearce headed home the first equalising goal of the night, after Mark Halstead had done well to thwart Ryan Sweeney's headed effort from Otis Khan's corner. But the Stags joy was short-lived as the visitors regained the lead within two minutes, as Old diverted a dipping header over Logan from Jordan Cranston's free kick delivery.
Danny Rose and Omari Sterling-James, came on in place of Andy Cook and CJ Hamilton in the sixty-sixth minute... and the switch had an immediate impact on the game, when Sterling James, placed the ball just inside the right hand upright, with a precision finish on the turn, to level things up again.
Sterling-James went close, glancing a header marginally wide, before Halstead kept Morecambe in the game with a brace of saves, to keep Haydn White and Benning at bay.
Smith was the width of a hunger striking skeletal gnat away from claiming the result for the Stags, with a fizzing twenty five yard strike, late in the game, but the visitors held on, and for the second time in four days, the score between these two sides on ninety minutes was 2-2.
All three of the Stags games so far this season have finished with that same scoreline, after John Dempster's side have come back from being behind, but tonight, there would have to be a winner, and with there not being any extra time in League Cup games anymore, the outcome was going to be determined by a penalty shoot-out.
Both sides had missed two penalties, before Old (inevitably) stepped forward and put the visitors 5-6 ahead with Morecambe's eighth kick, putting the onus on Ryan Sweeney to deliver with his attempt, that sadly for the Stags, cleared the crossbar.
Game over!
FT: Mansfield Town 2 v Morecambe 2
Morecambe won 5-6 on penalties.
Mansfield head to Brunton Park for a League 2 game against Carlisle United on Saturday, while Morecambe entertain Cheltenham Town at the Globe Arena. I'd imagine that the bookies are being inundated with people wanting to back the Stags trip to Cumbria to yield a 2-2 draw.
Mike Whitlow's Stags U18 side have a home game at the RH Academy on Saturday morning, kick off is at 11AM.
