31/12/2007 - Mansfield Town 2 Peterborough United 0
WITH Mansfield propping up League Two and Peterborough having won eight of their last ten matches, many people had decided the outcome of this match before it had even started.
But while the Stags’ first win in six league outings may have raised one or two eyebrows, the scoreline was not as big an upset as a first glance suggests.
Delve a little deeper into the form book than Mansfield’s four away defeats on the bounce and it becomes apparent that the home form of Billy Dearden’s troops in recent matches has been good.
For a start, they had not let in a goal in 368 minutes at Field Mill prior to taking on the Posh – since MK Dons’ late winner in early October.
And since that defeat to Paul Ince’s high-flyers, the Stags had won three and drawn one of their three games in front of their fans.
In fact, their biggest problem has been that they haven’t had enough home games to get a regular supply of points on the board – this was only their fifth, including the cup tie with Lewes, since the start of October.
With this three points the Stags hauled themselves off the bottom of the table, made it 468 minutes without conceding at home and showed they are a match for anyone in this division on their own patch.
They also ended a dreadful run of results against Peterborough by registering their first success in 11 attempts against them.
Before yesterday, Mansfield’s last win against them was in 1999 when Lee Peacock scored a hat-trick in a 3-1 triumph.
For Peterborough, meanwhile, it continued their appalling Boxing Day record – they last won in 1996.
Predictably, it was Michael Boulding who was Mansfield’s scoring hero and he added another two to take his tally to 15.
Alongside him up front, John McAliskey, available again after missing the Chesterfield game due to a family bereavement, enjoyed one of his best games at Field Mill.
The tall striker has fared reasonably well on his travels, but has not always endeared himself to the home crowd.
On this occasion, though, he linked up well with Boulding to set up the first goal, held the ball up intelligently and used his height to give Peterborough an extra problem.
In midfield, Stephen Dawson was the pick of a four who worked tirelessly to protect their defence and link play with their forwards.
But it was the back four and goalkeeper Carl Muggleton who did particularly well under difficult circumstances by keeping out a dangerous Peterborough attack.
Aaron Mclean and Craig Mackail-Smith have already scored 32 goals between then this season, so it looked ominous when Alex John-Baptiste (back) and skipper Jake Buxton (tonsillitis) pulled out late on.
But the new-look central defensive pairing of Martin McIntosh and Gareth Jelleyman proved to be able deputies and kept the Posh’s goal threat to a minimum.
Peterborough did have their moments, especially in the first half, and things might have been different had Mclean and Mackail-Smith scored from decent openings.
But Mclean fired well wide and Mackail-Smith was denied by a superb stop by Carl Muggleton, who raced off his line to make a block when the in-form striker was in the clear.
Just after the half-hour mark, Boulding hinted at what was to come as he raced onto McAliskey’s flick only to have his stabbed effort blocked by Mark Tyler.
Mansfield were in front in the 35th minute as McAliskey again teed up his partner by chesting the ball into his path and Boulding swivelled to fire a low shot into the right-hand corner. It was Mansfield’s first League Two goal in 419 minutes.
From then on, it was apparent the Stags’ belief they could win the game was increasing by the minute. The same could be said of the home fans who really got behind their team. in a bid to lift them.
McAliskey should have put Mansfield 2-0 up before the break when he tried to pass to Boulding instead of shooting when well placed.
But after the break, it was clear the hosts were not about to give up their lead lightly and just after the hour mark they extended it.
After getting precious little good fortune in recent weeks, Boulding capitalised when the ball broke kindly for him after Johnny Mullins had charged down an attempted clearance.
With the Posh defence wrong-footed, he ran on before slotting coolly beyond Tyler for his 15th goal.
Once the Stags had gone two goals to the good, they were content to put men behind the ball, let Peterborough come at them and play on the break.
It was a tactic that worked well – because Mansfield’s players constantly harried their opposite numbers and did not give them time on the ball.
In the end, Mclean’s header just wide in the early stages of the second half was as close as Peterborough came and the Stags might have extended their advantage on a couple of occasions when Boulding was not too far away.
Stags will now look to keep their excellent home record going against Accrington on Saturday. who are sure to adopt an altogether different approach to Darren Ferguson’s men.
But if the Stags can find a similar level of performance as they did to floor the Posh, another victory is well within their grasp.