The Opposition View – Mansfield

In the wake of yesterday’s 2-1 defeat at home to Mansfield Town, here are some views from opposition manager Steve Evans and some of the visiting Stags’ supporters.

Evans was delighted with the heart and effort of his team to recover their half time deficit.

‘Some of them heroically went out there today and performed like that so we’ll have a rallying call tomorrow’ the Stags manager said.

‘I probably ‘lost it’ a little bit at half-time and this group of players have not seen that very often, and they don’t deserve to see it because they work incredibly hard’ he continued.

‘I think we were hiding a little bit behind maybe not feeling so good, maybe because they were on top of us, and we were feeling sorry for ourselves a little bit’.

‘I probably demonstrated quite loudly and quite passionately what you have to do to win football matches, so I would like to think that contributed’.

‘You know what sparks it [the turnaround]? The heart of the players, the desire of the players’.

‘We’ve got some good players; we’ve got leaders, we’ve got men, we’ve got some good technical players, we’ve got a real mix but the players sparked it because they showed a desire to win in the second half and that was always tough because they’re playing against good players’ he said.

The Mansfield supporters also knew it was a game of two halves and were delighted with their team’s comeback.

The following extracts are taken from The Stags Net forum.

Martin Shaw said: ‘An incredible second half recovery, and the result of the season in my opinion, considering the high flying opposition who had won 6 on the trot at home, considering how Mansfield had been bullied out of it in the first half, and considering how Mansfield coped with losing the spine of the team: Danny Rose and Zander Diamond forced off with injury on 18 minutes, and Conrad Logan out ill with a virus, plus other players affected by the virus’.

Part Time Pete said: ‘Thought Potter was unfortunate at losing out to their full back for Wycombe’s first goal rather than poor play. Actually thought Alfie was MoM’.

Daddy Cool said: ‘Quite a few posts on the Wycombe forum say Angol should have been sent off’.

Spiritater said: ‘Well they will won’t they because they’re a bunch of moaning rissoles. Do they actually give us any credit at all? Or are they all like that ponce Ainsworth?’

Stagone1959 said: ‘When their team come to the Mill they are the most time wasting, unsportsmanlike bunch of bells ever to walk God’s earth. Suck it up. PS The ref had no control on the match whatsoever and was generally playing to the tune of the home crowd’.

Herts Stag said: ‘Still smiling at that second half performance. I just hope and pray that we can start to have a settled side without too much tinkering soon. The players showed they have the will and talent to become a strong unit but they need to keep playing together to really gel into one unit. At the moment we have two or three units’.

Tippy Tappy Football said: ‘Alfie Potter was at fault for the first goal as he should have stopped Gape getting in the cross or held him up. He dived in. Zander Diamond was also at fault as he was marking Akinfenwa. He did not get close enough to Akinfenwa or jump to try and head the ball away. Akinfenwa did not have to jump to head it in’.

‘Lee Angol was very lucky not to pick up a second yellow card as he clearly put his arm around Scarr’s neck and pulled him back”.

Wayno cordinho said: “Good finish by Angol, great save by Olejnik too on follow up shot after they hit the post’.

MTFC Musings said: ‘Angol finish was superb, as was the build up. Stroke of luck for Potters goal, keeper should be saving that but who cares’.

WeDeserveMore said: ‘Fantastic result. That did show real character… what with all the enforced changes. We have all questioned the character of some of our ‘big time Charlie’s’ – but wow.. they answered that today. Still pinching myself… 3 first teamers out (2 during the game), 1-0 down to a decent side away from home. Amazing!’

BH_Stag said: ‘Fantastic win today. Second game in a row we have put in a great second half display after a disappointing first half – if we start playing like that for 90 minutes we will fly up the league. Wycombe couldn’t live with us for large spells of the 2nd half, they didn’t know what hit them!’

Herts Stag said: ‘Amazing turn around after a dire first half performance. Feared the worst after the end of the first half when we looked so disjointed and with the midfield being powder puff. But what a difference 15 minutes can make. We came out in the second half, played some lovely football and thoroughly deserved the victory despite the plonker of a referee, Chris Sargisson. He was shocking’.

Part Time Pete said: ‘Excellent second half performance, but at half time I said that we would play better in second half as the conditions were with us in second half. Folk who were not at the game didn’t realise the strength of the wind blowing down the ground. The reason why we could not get out of our half in first half was that Wycombe played the conditions perfectly.

Second half we played the conditions perfectly and should have scored more than the two we scored.

I suppose Wycombe could have scored more first half but we defended well and Bobby made a super save from a blistering shot after the ball came back off a post’.

One F In Mansfield said: ‘Said exactly the same at half time. I could see us scraping a result in the second half, but we did not scrape a result we thoroughly deserved the win. A game of two halves does not do the performance justice. They were a lot better than us first half but we totally dominated the second’.

Next Match: Forest Green Rovers v Wycombe Wanderers, Saturday 1st January 3pm