FA Youth Cup 2nd Round
at the One Call Stadium/Field Mill
Mansfield Town (1) 2 AET: (2) 4
Josh Scott 45+2, Nathan Saunders 70, Ryan Ingram 116, Rio Molyneaux 118
Rotherham United (1) 2 AET: (2) 2
Jacob Grattan 9 pen, 85
Attendance: 189
Jamie Boyle, Ben Bayliss (Alun Jones 112), Kian Sketchley, Kyle Tomlin, George Cooper, Jordan Armsden (Nathan Saunders 57), Rio Molyneaux, Ethan Hill, Josh Scott (Issac Fisher 120+1), Jimmy Knowles, Shamar Lawson (Ryan Ingram 101)
Unused subs - Leon Philips, Jack Sadler, Nathan Caine
Rotherham United U18
Elliot Ellis, Bolton Makwedza, Charlie Smith, Joel Spence, Jake Hull, Harrison Beeden, George Scott (Robbie Gateshill 45, Haroon Salah 115), Jacob Gratton (Travon Wenham 120), Jerome Greaves (Sam Hanley 71), Ethan Kenny, Wilfred Peel-Evans.
Unused subs - ? Burnett, Josh Millen
The third round draw, made well in advance of tonight's FA Youth Cup tie, decreed that the winners will face the U18 side of Championship club QPR, at home, next month.
The two Eskimos that I got chatting to on my way back to the car, following this riveting and absorbing contest, said that they wouldn't be at Field Mill when the level 2 academy youngsters from the west London side roll into town in a few weeks time, due to the fact that they were going back to the northern circumpolar region of eastern Siberia tomorrow, to spend the Winter months there... because, it's several degrees warmer than Mansfield is, at this time of year.
Shamar Lawson was particularly unlucky not to have found the net (twice) for the home side, as they pressed forward, but it was the visitors from south Yorkshire who took the lead, in the ninth minute, when Jerome Greaves went shoulder to shoulder with George Cooper, just inside the hosts area, and tumbled to the ground as he got away from his marker. The referee, Jack Forder, decided that the contact warranted a penalty, which Jacob Gratton duly buried past Jamie Boyle.
And three minutes later, Greaves almost won another spot kick for the Millers, but the ref waved his claims away... and as my view was momentarily obscured ;-) I can't really comment any further on that episode. Phew!
Grattan, was a constant menace to the Stags defence... and though Mike Whitlow's side continued to push forward, the Rotherham number nine was still causing the home side problems, forcing Boyle into pulling off a great save at full stretch; before drilling a shot just inches wide of the upright with the midway point of the game rapidly approaching.
45 mins: Stags 1 v Millers 1
The two salient questions during the interval were: would Mansfield's high tempo pressing game, or the visitors resilience win a place in the next round. And, what temperature does human blood actually freeze at? It was getting fffffff...bloody cold, thank goodness the game had kicked off at 7PM.
Of course, the early finish, pre-empting a dash back to my warm car, never materialised, as the second half finished all square too... though the Stags were guilty of not finishing the opposition off, when the pendulum swung sharply their way.
Sadly, just before that happened, Jordan Armsden had been in the wars and had to limp out of the game having taken a knock just before the hour mark... hopefully his injury isn't going to be too serious.
Luckily, Rio Molyneaux, who had been tormenting the Millers out on the right all night, didn't need to share the treatment table with Armsden, after Harrison Beeden arrived like an express train to wipe the Stags number seven out with a shocker of a challenge, which saw the Millers player receive a straight red card... and to be fair to the referee, he had no other option to dismiss Beeden for such a crude lunge.
As the players from both teams reacted to the incident, the Millers keeper Ellis, deserves a lot of praise for steering two of his teammates away from the heated stand off that was developing, telling them not to get involved and stay focused on the job in hand. Not only had the visitors stopper played well on the night, his maturity and attitude also caught the eye.
After receiving treatment, Molyneaux was able to continue... and would go on to have the last laugh over his assailant, who was sat in the stand in time to see the extra time, that the Stags finally saw off their stubborn and well organised opponents in.
Four minutes after Rotherham went down to ten men, they also fell behind for the first time in the game too, when Mansfield finally made their lions share of the attacking play count for something, when Nathan Saunders picked his spot, as cool as you like, after Lawson's delivery into the area found its way through to him.
The Stags were in the ascendancy now and with their their numerical advantage, looked to see the game out against Ciaran Toner's determined and resilient team, who were now relying more on graft than craft, in an effort to salvage something out of the game.
But the Millers still had an ace up their sleeve, in Grattan, who showed some great instincts to chase down a seemingly lost cause, while gambling on the outcome of Cooper attempting to break up an attack, by trying to roll the ball back to Boyle... the Stags defender miscued his pass and the Rotherham striker pounced, seizing a free gift of an opportunity, to drill the ball into the back of the net inside the final five minutes of the scheduled ninety.
Mansfield should have killed the game off, but now the game would be decided, either in extra time, or via a penalty shoot out. And, to be fair to Rotherham, they very nearly snatched a win deep into stoppage time, when Jake Hull almost scored from a header.
90 mins: Stags 2 v Millers 2
So at 8.54 PM precisely, the start of an extra period of thirty minutes of football, coincided exactly with the onset of the next ice-age. Shiver mi 'timbers, 'twas getting proper parky by now... not that it seemed to bother the Stags U18 manager Mike Whitlow, who was stood pitch-side wearing shorts.
Both sides went close to breaking the deadlock, as the ten man Millers steadfastly refused to lay down and take their punishment.
Half time of extra time came and went, with the score still locked at two apiece... and when Danny Ingram missed from close range and Hill shot over from the edge of the area, it looked as though the tie was going to penalties.
Ingram atoned for his miss with just four minutes remaining, when he belted an angled shot past Ellis to make it 3-2 on the night. With Rotherham still reeling from conceding Ingram's late strike, Molyneaux cut inside from out on the right flank and curled a quality strike into to top far corner of the net. Game over!
FT: Mansfield Town U18 4 v Rotherham United 2
A cracking game all told, and a great night, spent in the company of Malc Storer and Peter Craggs Jr.
Both teams played their part in what was a proper contest, as games between these two sides tend to be.
Weather permitting, the Millers U18 side have an away game at Grimsby Town on Saturday morning, while Mansfield's youngsters have a blank weekend, before facing an away trip to take on Notts County on 23rd November.
Right! Where did I put that bloody de-icer?
