This is Nottingham --
A CONFIDENT performance saw Mansfield Town extend their impressive winning run to 12 games – beating Gateshead 4-0.
With the One Call Stadium bathed in spring sunshine, the home side dominated a game which keeps them just a point off top spot, with three games in hand and six to play.
The Stags were in imperious form and, in truth, could have reached double figures in a performance that will have fans dreaming of 2012/13 being a promotion season.
Town made two changes to the team which ran out victorious against Tamworth on Saturday, with Lindon Meikle and Adam Chapman replaced by Anthony Howell and Colin Daniel. The side lined up in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Lee Stevenson handed a free role behind striker Matt Green.
With another victory under their belts, Stags only have a few days respite before their next task – heading to third-place Wrexham on Thursday evening, with six games in 16 days ahead to complete the season.
Visitors Gateshead started the day just one point from the drop and struggled early on as Mansfield kept the ball well – Stevenson, Green and Louis Briscoe, in particular, playing between the lines and finding plenty of space in which to cause problems.
With ten minutes on the clock, the Stags had their clearest chance of the game, as Greg Taylor – who was making his home debut – whipped a delightful ball from deep over the Gateshead defence, but striker Green was unable to get any power on his header.
As the half continued, it seemed only a matter of time before Mansfield would break the deadlock. And, sure enough, Howell opened the scoring 20 minutes in.
Green won a free-kick on the left-hand side of the box, 25 yards out. Adam Murray whipped in the set-piece, beating the floundering Bartlett in goal and the ball rebounded off the crossbar and landed in the box for Howell to poke home from just a few yards out.
Just minutes later and the home crowd were on their feet again – this time calling for a penalty. Intricate work between Briscoe and Stevenson broke through the Gateshead back line and Briscoe beat his man only to go down, appealing for a foul.
Despite the certainty of Briscoe and Stags fan's appeals, the referee waved away the claims.
In a rare attacking venture, the visitors had their best chance of the half on 36 minutes as a 25-yard free-kick from Micky Cummins curled just wide of Alan Marriott's right-hand post.
The Stags could have scored a hatful and five minutes before the interval a goal-line clearance thwarted the Stags after Luke Jones connected with an Adam Murray set-piece.
The home fans were wondering how the team went in to half time with just one goal as minutes later Matt Green went through, one-on-one with the keeper, but couldn't get a shot away.
The Stags returned from the break in exactly the same form that had seen them win 11 games in a row.
After 65 minutes, a loose back-pass from James Curtis saw sub Matt Rhead through on goal. The striker couldn't get the ball out of his feet, though, and was thwarted by the keeper.
Just a minute later and an exhilarating run from Colin Daniel nearly doubled the Stags' tally. Daniel used pace and power to breeze past two defenders before firing just wide from 25 yards. The wide man again nearly broke the deadlock from the next phase of play as his rasping snapshot was palmed away by Adam Bartlett.
Seventy minutes in, though, Mansfield finally had the second goal their play so richly deserved.
A Greg Taylor long throw into the box was cleared weakly by the defence and Briscoe fired the ball superbly into the bottom left-hand corner from 25-yards.
The Stags were playing with the confidence of a side at the top of their game and Green duly extended the lead to three goals. A chipped ball into the left-hand channel saw Green control, jink inside to beat his man and drill home past Adam Bartlett.
With two minutes of normal time remaining, a 25-yard free-kick from Ben Hutchinson was blocked in the box by a Gateshead defender – and the referee ruled the ball had been stopped by a hand. Hutchinson stepped up to take the resulting penalty and tucked the ball away neatly to the keeper's left-hand side to take the score to 4-0.
The fourth goal fittingly capped off an exciting performance from The Stags, who look simply unstoppable at the moment as they look to take top spot away from Kidderminster.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Louis Briscoe. The right-winger was a constant thorn in Gateshead's side. Given more freedom by a solid central-midfield pairing of Murray and Howell, Briscoe scored a fantastic goal and could easily have scored and created more had the Stags' finishing been more accurate.
REFEREE WATCH: Graham Horwood (Bedfordshire). Mr Horwood had a relatively quiet game, which was partly a reflection of his assured refereeing. He dealt swiftly and reasonably issuing a yellow card for a poor tackle from Jamie Chandler. The Bedfordshire-man did however turn down a first-half penalty appeal which seemed valid.
MANSFIELD: Marriott, Dempster, Jones, Green (Hutchinson 79), Briscoe, Howell, Beevers, Murray, Stevenson (Rhead, 58), Taylor, Daniel (Meikle 75)
GATESHEAD: Bartlett, Boyle, Chandler, Curtis, Gillies, Turnbull Hatch, Cummins, Brown (Bore 60), Donaldson, Henderson (Everson, 85)
ATTENDANCE: 3,472 (82 away) Reported by This is 5 hours ago.
A CONFIDENT performance saw Mansfield Town extend their impressive winning run to 12 games – beating Gateshead 4-0.
With the One Call Stadium bathed in spring sunshine, the home side dominated a game which keeps them just a point off top spot, with three games in hand and six to play.
The Stags were in imperious form and, in truth, could have reached double figures in a performance that will have fans dreaming of 2012/13 being a promotion season.
Town made two changes to the team which ran out victorious against Tamworth on Saturday, with Lindon Meikle and Adam Chapman replaced by Anthony Howell and Colin Daniel. The side lined up in a 4-4-1-1 formation with Lee Stevenson handed a free role behind striker Matt Green.
With another victory under their belts, Stags only have a few days respite before their next task – heading to third-place Wrexham on Thursday evening, with six games in 16 days ahead to complete the season.
Visitors Gateshead started the day just one point from the drop and struggled early on as Mansfield kept the ball well – Stevenson, Green and Louis Briscoe, in particular, playing between the lines and finding plenty of space in which to cause problems.
With ten minutes on the clock, the Stags had their clearest chance of the game, as Greg Taylor – who was making his home debut – whipped a delightful ball from deep over the Gateshead defence, but striker Green was unable to get any power on his header.
As the half continued, it seemed only a matter of time before Mansfield would break the deadlock. And, sure enough, Howell opened the scoring 20 minutes in.
Green won a free-kick on the left-hand side of the box, 25 yards out. Adam Murray whipped in the set-piece, beating the floundering Bartlett in goal and the ball rebounded off the crossbar and landed in the box for Howell to poke home from just a few yards out.
Just minutes later and the home crowd were on their feet again – this time calling for a penalty. Intricate work between Briscoe and Stevenson broke through the Gateshead back line and Briscoe beat his man only to go down, appealing for a foul.
Despite the certainty of Briscoe and Stags fan's appeals, the referee waved away the claims.
In a rare attacking venture, the visitors had their best chance of the half on 36 minutes as a 25-yard free-kick from Micky Cummins curled just wide of Alan Marriott's right-hand post.
The Stags could have scored a hatful and five minutes before the interval a goal-line clearance thwarted the Stags after Luke Jones connected with an Adam Murray set-piece.
The home fans were wondering how the team went in to half time with just one goal as minutes later Matt Green went through, one-on-one with the keeper, but couldn't get a shot away.
The Stags returned from the break in exactly the same form that had seen them win 11 games in a row.
After 65 minutes, a loose back-pass from James Curtis saw sub Matt Rhead through on goal. The striker couldn't get the ball out of his feet, though, and was thwarted by the keeper.
Just a minute later and an exhilarating run from Colin Daniel nearly doubled the Stags' tally. Daniel used pace and power to breeze past two defenders before firing just wide from 25 yards. The wide man again nearly broke the deadlock from the next phase of play as his rasping snapshot was palmed away by Adam Bartlett.
Seventy minutes in, though, Mansfield finally had the second goal their play so richly deserved.
A Greg Taylor long throw into the box was cleared weakly by the defence and Briscoe fired the ball superbly into the bottom left-hand corner from 25-yards.
The Stags were playing with the confidence of a side at the top of their game and Green duly extended the lead to three goals. A chipped ball into the left-hand channel saw Green control, jink inside to beat his man and drill home past Adam Bartlett.
With two minutes of normal time remaining, a 25-yard free-kick from Ben Hutchinson was blocked in the box by a Gateshead defender – and the referee ruled the ball had been stopped by a hand. Hutchinson stepped up to take the resulting penalty and tucked the ball away neatly to the keeper's left-hand side to take the score to 4-0.
The fourth goal fittingly capped off an exciting performance from The Stags, who look simply unstoppable at the moment as they look to take top spot away from Kidderminster.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Louis Briscoe. The right-winger was a constant thorn in Gateshead's side. Given more freedom by a solid central-midfield pairing of Murray and Howell, Briscoe scored a fantastic goal and could easily have scored and created more had the Stags' finishing been more accurate.
REFEREE WATCH: Graham Horwood (Bedfordshire). Mr Horwood had a relatively quiet game, which was partly a reflection of his assured refereeing. He dealt swiftly and reasonably issuing a yellow card for a poor tackle from Jamie Chandler. The Bedfordshire-man did however turn down a first-half penalty appeal which seemed valid.
MANSFIELD: Marriott, Dempster, Jones, Green (Hutchinson 79), Briscoe, Howell, Beevers, Murray, Stevenson (Rhead, 58), Taylor, Daniel (Meikle 75)
GATESHEAD: Bartlett, Boyle, Chandler, Curtis, Gillies, Turnbull Hatch, Cummins, Brown (Bore 60), Donaldson, Henderson (Everson, 85)
ATTENDANCE: 3,472 (82 away) Reported by This is 5 hours ago.