31/12/2007 - Mansfield Town 1 Accrington Stanley 2
IT has become such a familiar tale at Field Mill over the past 12 months that Mansfield fans know exactly what is coming.
Just when there is hope the Stags might finally be turning the corner, they disappoint their loyal followers with a depressingly predictable lacklustre display.
A battling 2-0 Boxing Day victory over high-flying Peterborough had raised spirits just when they were at their lowest following a dismal defeat to derby rivals Chesterfield.
It meant a win over Accrington to clinch back-to-back successes for the first time this season would have ensured Mansfield hauled themselves out of the League Two drop zone.
Being the eternal optimists that they are, the supporters dared to hope this time the Stags would finally back up one excellent performance with another.
But while the eventual defeat was hard to take, for those who follow the club’s fortunes on a regular basis, it hardly came as a surprise.
The game encapsulated perfectly why Mansfield are struggling at the wrong end of the table – because they cannot reproduce the level of performance required week in, week out.
Instead, there are occasional flashes of promise, not the consistency required to climb out of trouble.
That failing is not something confined to this season. It was endemic of the Stags’ play last season as well.
After winning three consecutive games against Wycombe, Lincoln and Chester before drawing at Notts County, there was a big chance to push for a play-off spot with home games to come against Boston, who were eventually relegated, and struggling Macclesfield.
But Mansfield could not find it within themselves to win either game, losing both 2-1, and any ambitions of extending the season beyond early May were quickly extinguished.
This season the Stags went four games unbeaten in October and early November, demolishing Macclesfield 5-0 in the last of those. Yet that was followed by four defeats out of five.
The Mansfield players keep saying they can pull themselves out of the mire. But if the team are unable to follow up confidence-boosting wins by putting more points on the board then that is never going to happen.
After a goalless first half where Michael Boulding and Matt Hamshaw failed to convert half-decent opportunities, Mansfield will no doubt feel hard done to by a crucial decision that went against them with 15 minutes to go.
Paul Mullin – who has proven to be a nemesis of the Stags with a handful of goals against them in recent meetings – might have been offside when he stabbed into an empty goal after Carl Muggleton pushed away Jay Harris’s low, angled drive.
But whether or not the big frontman’s strike should have been allowed to stand, it was not as if the goal had not been coming.
There was no doubting the visitors fully deserved the three points for their second-half performance where they created a number of decent chances.
There was no argument, either, that Mansfield missed the influence of suspended midfielder Stephen Dawson, whose bustling presence played such an important part against the Posh. Replacement Gareth Jelleyman tried his best to fill in alongside Jonathan D’Laryea but the strain was starting to show even before he left the field with mild concussion and a missing tooth.
Accrington simply took over the middle of the park and the longer the game continued the more Ian Craney and Andy Procter took control.
Once Mullin had scored the opener, there seemed little likelihood that Mansfield would fight back.
Only once before this season have the Stags conceded the first goal and gone on to earn any points – and that was on the opening day in the 1-1 draw with Brentford.
They gambled by putting on extra attackers but were caught short at the back and Harris was brought down in the box, which gave Martin McIntosh a second yellow card followed by a red.
Andy Procter converted the penalty and though Ian Holmes pulled a goal back with almost the last kick of the match from fellow substitute Simon Brown’s ball in, it was academic.
Accrington have now notched six victories on the road while Mansfield have yet to get off the mark away this season.
Stanley have not got a bigger squad than the Stags, nor have they got any real stars who are going to bring the Premier League scouts running.
But what they do have in abundance, and what Mansfield could do well to learn from, is a high work ethic, desire and belief.
If a club which brings only 94 supporters to an away match can grind out results by doing the basics right, there is no reason why the players at Field Mill should not be doing the same.
Boss Dearden’s first observation in his post match press conference said it all.
“It was after the Lord’s Mayor’s show again, wasn’t it?” he said ruefully.
It certainly was – and not for the first time.
But now this disappointment has to be forgotten. The Stags must look to the future. If they go to league leaders Milton Keynes Dons on New Year’s Day still stewing, then defeat is inevitable before they even start.
Instead they must go with a positive attitude and aim to emulate the performance that saw them dispose of another good side in Peterborough.
Maybe then, for once, Mansfield can break the pattern their long-suffering followers now take for granted.