Entrance : £4
Programme: £1-50
Tea: 80p
Tea outside: £1
Petrol: c£20
Total: £27-30
Before this match at the Forest Town Arena in Mansfield, I hadn’t seen a proper belter so far. There had been glimpses at Irlam, and some decent play in the Switzerland game, but nothing which had really captured my imagination. Today changed all that. Given the absurdity of public transport between Sheffield and Mansfield (2-3 hours plus waiting time), I borrowed Mrs. Groundhopper’s car for the 48-mile round trip. I’ve completely estimated petrol costs, and have partly factored in that I also owe her for the longer drive to Penrith in August.
I found AFC Mansfield’s ground relatively easily, as it is on the corner of a major junction in Mansfield, and is actually well-signposted. The ground was the most distinctive I’d seen so far this year. After parting with £5 at the turnstile for the ground (and getting an ink-stamp on my hand for good measure), I surveyed the surroundings. Like West Allotment Celtic last year, the entrance is actually at the top of an embankment alongside the club-house and a bit of terracing. The difference here was that there were ample seats and terracing down to the pitch, which was bounded by what looked like a cycle or race track. On the far right was an impressive looking hut more akin to a village cricket club than a football team. The floodlights were what I would call ‘classic’, and seemed to act as nests for roosting birds.
Today’s game pitted the league new boys (the ‘Bulls’) against the league leaders AFC Emley, who were looking in impressive form. They started this game with an absolutely cracking goal from Jordan Townend, who hit a volley superbly into the roof of the net, looping powerfully over the stranded home keeper. The fairly large travelling contingent from West Yorkshire were delighted, and even some home fans applauded the finish. The goal drew an immediate response from the Bulls, with Dean Rick firing a warning shot wide after a neat counter-attack and Joe Naylor just skewing wide across the face of the goal. Emley’s main threat at this point was coming from some dangerous looking free kicks. On 18 minutes, Danny Naylor caught a volley which flew just wide. Almost immediately, Mansfield were awarded a penalty thanks to a hand-ball by the Emley captain. The chance was fluffed by Carl Haslam, whose shot was well-saved by the keeper’s toes. Incredibly we were barely 20 minutes into the game! Emley’s Jerome then could have doubled their lead with a flicked shot just going wide. Half-time came, and I had a quietly optimistic feeling that we could be in for a cracking second-half.
Mansfield were fired up for this game now, and several smart interchanges in midfield gave the away side a warning of what they could do. Their right-back Tighe hit the cross-bar with a free-kick, before Mansfield forced a superb tipped save from Lawlor in the away goal on 60 minutes. Deservedly, Mansfield equalised on 70 minutes, with a swift counter ending in a pass from Haslam to Rick, who made no mistake this time. Game on. Rick then won a penalty for the home side, having been brought down by the unfortunate Lawlor (who up to this point had been solid). Tighe (obviously the dead-ball specialist in the team) stepped up, and calmly made it 2-1. You could almost feel the colour draining from the faces of the Emley players as Mansfield looked more and more confident. A double substitution by the away team on 85 minutes looked like it might turn the tide, and it had a temporary impact until Carl Haslam made it 3-1 after rounding the keeper and firing in inside the box. This was a deserved win from Mansfield, who had scored 3 goals in 18 second-half minutes. On the evidence of this game, they will be a welcome addition to the NCEL set-up.
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