MANSFIELD TOWN RESERVES 1-1 HALIFAX TOWN RESERVES

WEDS 6^th MARCH – FIELD MILL

Gordon Cleugh at Field Mill

Stags gave another full game to Michael Sisson. Craig Disley took a place on the bench but surprisingly, there was no place in the squad for Wheatcroft.

Stags: Bingham, Asher, Clarke, Lazarus, Holyoak, Buxton, Elliott, Sisson, Bradley, White, Hurst

Subs: Disley, Carter, Shaw, Mitchell, White

Halifax: Crookes, Harris, Boulton, Heinamman, Winder, Reilly, Wright, Herbert, Sarpong, Farrell, Ludden Subs: Birchell, Pool, Wood, Clamp, Mierswinski

Stags kicked off towards the Quarry Lane end with a strong wind behind them. Both sides used this to their advantage and virtually every clearance from the keeper at the North Stand end created havoc at the other end. The pitch was a vast improvement on the last 2 home matches and the ball actually bounced!

The first chance came in the 1^st minute when a clearance from Bingham found Bradley on the edge of the box who played the ball out to Hurst on the right but his shot was wide of the target.

In the 5^th minute, Hurst intercepted a poor clearance by Halifax and played the ball to Elliott whose low shot brought out a diving save from Crookes. A couple of minutes later, Lazarus found Bradley on the left side of the box but his shot went into the side netting. Halifax’s first chance came in the 10^th minute when Wright made a 30 yard run through the middle and his shot brought out a good save by Bingham who was only able to parry the shot to Farrell who shot wide.

Another long clearance from Bingham found Bradley who worked well to get past a defender but put his shot wide of the target.

Halifax took the lead in the 15^th minute when Wright crossed from the right and Sarpong headed home from close range at the far post. They nearly increased the lead a few minutes later when Wright played a ball over the top of the defence towards Farrell but Bingham raced out of his area and won the race to the ball.

Stags started putting some pressure on Halifax. Hurst had a weak shot easily saved easily by the keeper in the 25^th minute and shortly after, a loose ball fell to Sisson whose shot was just over the bar. A free kick just in the Halifax half from Clarke was just out of reach of Bradley on the edge of the box. Moments later, White dribbled the ball through the Halifax defence and his shot was put out for a corner by the keeper. From the corner, the ball found Lazarus on the left who found Bradley in the box but his shot was put out for yet another corner. Bradley then did some neat work by the corner flag and the resulting cross bobbled causing the keeper some problems. On 37 minutes, a long throw on the right from Asher found Bradley with his back to the goal on the edge of the box and his resulting shot was just wide. A couple of minutes later, Lazarus was brought down by the left hand corner of the box but Asher’s free kick was well off target. Moments later, Lazarus was again brought down but this time in the box and Stags were awarded a penalty. Bradley had to place the ball 3 times as the strong wind kept moving it from the penalty spot but he finally despatched it low to the keeper’s left into the corner of the net. Bradley had a chance to put Stags in the lead in the last minute of the half when he met Asher’s cross from the right but the header was put out for a corner.

Stags had created several chances in the last 20 minutes of the half and were unlucky not to be going into the break with a lead.

Carter replaced Bradley at the start of the 2^nd half. Stags created a chance in the 1^st minute of the half but Lazarus’s weak shot was easily saved and immediately cleared up field to Farrell whose shot hit the bar. On 56 minutes, White received the ball 30 yards out with his back to the goal, turned and ran and shot just over from the edge of the box. A minute later, another long clearance from the Halifax keeper found Farrell just onside. Bingham came out of his area but fortunately for Stags, Farrell shot wide of the target.

Disley replaced Lazarus on the hour mark. On 64 minutes, Clarke’s attempted headed clearance near the half way line hit Wright who ran through but shot over the bar. Disley was making some good runs and in the 77^th minute, he ran through the middle and played the ball out to Hurst on the left who shot over the bar. In the dying minutes, Carter gave the ball away on the halfway line and the ball was eventually put through to Sarpong but Bingham just beat him to the ball. Moments later, yet another wind assisted long ball found Farrell but the ball was taken easily by Bingham.

Sisson had a solid but non spectacular performance. White worked tirelessly as usual up front and Disley looked impressive in his 30 minutes on the pitch. Stags certainly created enough chances to win the match and were unfortunate not to win a match played in difficult conditions.