Mansfield Musings Newsletter 10/08/2023
And we're off!
The season proper is underway and after just two games we’ve seen a sending off, a penalty, absurd amounts of added on time and more promisingly some scintillating football. Saturday supplied the full gamut of emotions, whilst Tuesday provided that rare feeling of a comfortable, entertaining Mansfield Town masterclass. Let’s catch up on the weeks goings on.
Stags surprise with Flint signing
After last weeks newsletter was released (typical), Mansfield pulled off one of League Two’s captures of the summer. Colossal defender Aden Flint joined the club on a one year deal, much to the shock of observers on social media. As Nigel Clough conceded, location was a huge factor in Flint’s decision to sign, having shunned more lucrative offers from clubs higher up the pyramid. When the gaffer admitted last week that he was hoping to bolster his defensive options, few would have expected a commanding presence with over 400 EFL appearances, the majority of which have come at a higher level. A key weapon in Flint’s arsenal is his goal scoring ability from set pieces, having once notched 15 goals in a season, and having recorded over 50 career league goals. He joins following his release from Stoke in June, and has already featured as a substitute at Crewe and from the start against Grimsby in the Carabao Cup. He provides fantastic competition for Kilgour and Cargill, and will surely back himself to become a regular as the campaign progresses. Having cried out for a natural centre back for two seasons, we now find ourselves with too many good ones for the current system, a nice problem for Clough to have.
All square at Crewe for ten man Mansfield
With those wearing Amber 2-0 up and in cruise control through 30 minutes at Gresty Road the Mornflake Stadium, my thoughts had started to drift towards what odds I could still get for Mansfield to be crown champions of League Two come May 2024. Fast forward to the hour mark and I was slumped in my seat thinking here we go again, with our hosts having equalised just seconds after Calum Macdonald’s red card. Come full time, I was heartened by the performance of those left on the pitch to avoid a total capitulation and actually do more than just survive for the rest of the game, as we could easily have walked away with three points had Rhys Oates not ran in front of Lucas Akins goalbound effort, or had a bit more luck with his own stab towards goal after a determined chase.
It was a promising display from Mansfield, having started on the front foot, patiently probing for openings down either flank. We controlled possession and on the rare occasion a pass did go astray, quickly harried our opponents into presenting the ball back to us. These quick recoveries led to both Davis Keillor-Dunn’s goals, the second almost a mirror image of the first, a calm chop inside an attempted tackle before caressing a finishing into the bottom corner, one with his right foot, one with his left. He should have made it three when left with a clear shot inside the area minutes later.
Instead the home side pulled one back, debutant Mickey Demetriou curling home following a needlessly conceded corner from Callum Johnson and a misjudged clearance from Rhys Oates. The Railwaymen bossed the remainder of the half, coming close to an equaliser when Chris Longs deflected effort rebounded back off the crossbar.
After no doubt a bit of a boot up the backside in the changing room following the drop off towards half time, the ship appeared to have been steadied during the break. Keillor-Dunn missed a second chance to go home with match ball, steering a Stephen Quinn cross from the left against the left hand post. Just ten minutes later, Macdonald was dismissed for a challenge on Adebisi. The incident happened right in front of me, and my immediate reaction was ‘he’s in trouble here’. It was a high cross field pass which McDonald tried to intercept, however the Crewe full back nipped in first, getting a toe to the ball a fraction ahead of Macdonald. There was no malice from the Mansfield debutant, but it was high and late and I could see why the referee sent him off. Clough said after the final whistle that he felt it was harsh dismissal and that the would consider an appeal, however I can only assume given McDonald did not feature on Tuesday that they decided against it. From the resulting free kick, Crewe worked the ball nicely with Mansfield disorganised, and Adebisi glanced a header into the far corner from a right wing cross. Quinn was let with too much to do to stop the cross, well spotted and seized upon by the home side.
With a third of the game still to go, I think I can be forgiven for expecting the worst, but I was wrong to do so. Clough had brought on Flint for Keillor-Dunn to go three at the back before the equaliser, with Akins slotting in at left wing back and Oates operating as a lone striker. The change in shape nullified any momentum Crewe had sourced following their equaliser, The Alex only creating one clear chance when Tracey miscued a shot inside the area. At the other end, the aforementioned chances for Akins and Oates were the closest either side came to finding a winner.
Following the game, Nigel Clough was encouraged by the number of chances his team had created and their general play, but frustrated by the referees decisions, some dozy defending and the couple of chances Keillor-Dunn failed to convert, whilst complimentary regarding the ones he did. There were plenty of strong performers, in particular I though Cargill, Quinn, Keillor-Dunn and Akins had excellent games.
Pitchside footage of Keillor-Dunn's finishes
Stylish Stags cast Mariners aside
Back at the One Call Stadium for the first competitive home game of the season, Mansfield produced a dominant showing to progress through to the second round of the Carabao cup for the first time since 2018. The result that day was a 6-1 thumping of Accrington Stanley, and it could easily have been the same on Tuesday evening, if not even more emphatic. A composed display, featuring numerous sweeping moves, delighted all in attendance, the only criticism being that we were not more clinical in the final third.
Nigel Clough resisted the temptation to make wholesale changes, spying an opportunity to reproduce performance levels from the weekend and progress to the next round against same league opposition. Aden Flint made his first start in place of Baily Cargill, the latter rested given back issues just a week or so ago, and Jordan Bowery replaced Callum McDonald at left back, a position he had deputised in plenty of times just a few months ago. Grimsby boss and former Stags trialist Paul Hurst made five changes from their opening day draw against AFC Wimbledon. Former Stags favourite Danny Rose kept his place in attack, and Luke Waterfall played at the back.
The Stags dominated possession from the first minute, moving the ball with an increasingly familiar patience across the back line, into Louis Reed, and out to the full back on either side. A low cross from the right by Callum Johnson fizzed through the box without a Mansfield touch, whilst Lucas Akins poked over the bar from inside the area with a rushed finish. The best chance to break the deadlock came just before that when Keillor-Dunn put Oates through on goal with a slide rule pass. Oates steadied himself before opening up his body and blasting high and wide, his sides composure in possession not translating into the strikers finish.
It wasn’t long though before Oates made amends in typically enthusiastic style, pouncing on a heavy touch from Grimsby keeper Cartwright before being clumsily bought down for the most straight forward of penalty decisions. Over to strike partner Akins, who calmly sent Cartwright the wrong way and gave Mansfield a deserved lead. The crowd were enjoying what they were seeing, and should have been treated to more goals before the interval. Lucas Akins was denied by Cartwright following a sweeping move down the left hand side, Aaron Lewis finished tamely from Oates’ centre, Oates had a swing and a miss at a gorgeous Stephen Quinn flick, and finally Keillor-Dunn side footed over on the bounce at the back post. The visitors were limited to a Danny Rose free header from a free kick, pushed around the post by an agile Christy Pym. Some lovely football by Stags, but not the margin of lead to show for it at half time, and after what had happened at the weekend, you could understand an element of trepidation from those in the dugout and in the stands.
Stephen Quinn was given the second half off, replaced by Hiram Boateng. After an early chance from a corner for Grimsby, Boateng was straight into the action, poised to tap home an Oates cross from the right but for an intervening defender. He also delivered a corner which was headed wide of the far post by Flint.
Mansfield doubled their lead early in the second half to settle any nerves. Keillor-Dunn found Oates on the edge of the box, the striker shimmied away from two challenges before bending a strike with the outside of his right foot around a screening defender and past the unsighted Cartwright, a lovely improvised finish which will hopefully give the frontman some confidence. Flint was replaced by Cargill shortly afterwards, he will seldom have had a more comfortable nights work than that.
The home side continued to exert their dominance until the final whistle, with the occasional threat of a counter attack from Grimsby, a back post header which was straight at Pym the closest they came to registering a goal. At the other end, Akins came close to capping a fantastic move but his low effort was deflected over the bar by Waterfall. Such was the inevitability of the result, Clough was able to award Ollie Clarke his first minutes of football since last season, and McKeal Abdullah was rewarded for his excellent goal record at youth level with his first senior appearance.
A comfortable 2-0 win for Mansfield then, Clough saying afterwards that his team had sent the benchmark for the rest of the season with such an outstanding performance. Something to work on is a vulnerability from set pieces, evident from the chances conceded in the first couple of games. Individually, Louis Reed picked up a deserved man of the match award, whilst Aaron Lewis was a bundle of energy. Paul Hurst was effusive in his praise of the Stags post match, calling it as good a performance that he had seen from League Two side for some time. The reward is an away tie against Sheffield Wednesday in the second round.
Team News - Morecambe (H)
The first home league game of the season will see Mansfield meet recently relegated Morecambe. The Shrimps won 2-1 at home to Walsall on opening day, a game which featured goals from former Stags Faz Rawson and Danny Johnson, and an assist from Ryan Stirk. They followed up that success with a penalty shootout defeat away at Rotherham on Tuesday night, the score 1-1 after 90 minutes.
The Stags will again be without Will Swan, who is expected to join in full training early next week. James Gale is expected to be out for a couple of weeks with a thigh strain, sustained whilst practicing penalties ahead of Tuesday nights cup tie. George Williams will also be absent for a couple of weeks, having also felt his thigh during the 45 minutes he played at Matlock last week. Calum Macdonald will serve the second game of his three match suspension.
An update on James Perch, who is now expected to take up a non-playing role with the club following the signing of Aden Flint. He travelled with the squad to Crewe on Saturday and watched the game from the stand alongside analyst Matt Ash.
The biggest dilemma for Nigel Clough will be whether Flint or Cargill starts at the heart of the defence alongside Alfie Kilgour.
Morecambe (H) - Fan Preview
Thanks this week go to Tom Collins from ShrimpsOnline (ShrimpsOnline) for giving up his time ahead of this weekends game to answer some questions on what we can expect from Derek Adams’ side :
What are your expectations for the season? It’s been a turbulent, yet exciting few years for The Shrimps. In 20/21 we won promotion to the third tier of English football for the first time in our history. We spent two years mixing it with football juggernauts, in comparison to Morecambe – Sheffield Wednesday, Ipswich, Derby amongst others and enjoyed the challenge. Last season we got relegated back to League 2 on the final day of the season. The back-drop to this is whilst we are fundamentally a well-working unit day to day off the field, we have on-going ownership issues which threaten to derail all the good work that’s being done. Takeover talks involving what appears to be a very questionable 20-year old (Sarbjot Singh) broke down after 9 months of discussions with our current owner, meaning we are back looking for a buyer. Our current owners appear to have taken us over using a high interest loan. It’s messy!
Anyway, back to football. We have one of the lowest budgets in the league and a lot of the experts are predicting us to be down at the bottom of the league. Having watched us in all of the pre-season games, I’m higher on our chances than most. Derek Adams knows the division, having won two promotions to League One, and has proven he can build a competitive team on a shoestring. We have ex-Stag Faz Rawson partnering with Jacob Bedeau as a centre back partnership with Yann Songo’o playing the destroyer role in front of them. This core gives me confidence, mixed with a youthful blend of players up top, we’ll have enough to stay competitive at League Two. I predict a 9th placed finish for The Shrimps.
How would you rate your summer business out of ten? 7.5/10 – based on the budget we’ve got we’ve recruited very well. This could be upgraded to an 8 or 8.5 depending on the three more plaeyrs we sign to complete the squad. We’ve also had to rebuild most of the squad for a new division. We have a well-balanced squad overall. Some of my friends question if we’ve got enough experience in attacking areas, however I’m excited to see how Mellon, Bloxham and Mayor gel in a front 3 – all aged 19. There’s not many proven goals behind them, however I’ve seen them link up well and I’m confident in their ability.
Thoughts on your manager, Derek Adams? In Derek we trust. He has so much credit in the bank from leading us to League One with one of the smallest budgets in League Two in 20/21. There are very few managers, if any, who could work a budget like he does and produce a competitive side.
Who will likely catch the eye for Morecambe at the weekend? Adam Mayor, if he’s fit. Rumours were rife after he was left out of the squad on Tuesday night for our Carabao cup tie with Rotherham. Apparently, he has a slight niggle so may be fit for the weekend. If he plays, he’ll be on the left. He’s direct and will run at your full backs or drift into midfield. I’d also say JJ McKiernan in central midfield has looked sharp so far. He should have had a goal against Rotherham in the Carabao Cup and I see him being a big part of the way we play with late runs into the box to nick goals. He’s got fantastic energy and looks good technically. Last season he was on loan at Eastleigh and was seen as one of the shining young stars in the National League at 21 years old. I watched your game back against Crewe and was highly impressed with Lucas Akins. His physical presence caused the Crewe back-line all sorts of issues. Therefore, Faz Rawson could be a key battle with Akins as our most aerially dominant defender.
How do you think Mansfield will do this season? I put you as 8th but I’m already potentially regretting my decision having seen you play against Crewe. You were superb in all departments and I thought your forward line has a bit of everything – physical elements, pace and trickery.
Score prediction? Please don’t take my predictions to heart, as I’m still getting to grips with League Two! Mansfield 2-2 Morecambe
The Closing Question
Who would you start on Saturday, Baily Cargill or Aden Flint?
I think Flint. Looks like the perfect pairing with Kilgour. Particularly up against a young attack. Can see us settling into three at the back later in season
I think it will be a back three.