Mansfield Town vs Luton Town FC (17th Feb 2015)

Hatters unbeaten run comes to an end at Field Mill

The Hatters took a following of 821 [edit - ‏@mansfieldtownfc Attendance: 2,998 (801 away supporters)] fans two hours up the road to Mansfield tonight on what proved to be a disappointing night at Field Mill as their 10 match unbeaten run came to an end.

Mansfield Town’s first-half substitute Rakish Bingham scored the only goal of the game in the 32nd minute of a hard fought match from both sides.

Tonight’s game also saw a return to first-team action for Luke Guttridge who came on as a substitute in the 69th minute.

With 16 games to go until the end of the season, and a game in hand on Shrewsbury, Burton and Wycombe above them in the League 2 table, the stakes were high for the Hatters as three points would mean a return to the automatic promotion places.

The Town lined up in a 4-4-2 formation once again and with just two changes to the side that beat Carlisle on Saturday. Alex Lacey started, coming in for the suspended Luke Wilkinson and Jake Howells was in for Nathan Oduwa. With Stephen McNulty, still serving part of a four-match suspension, Lacey would line up with Fraser Franks in the heart of defence. So, with the scene set, and the crowd in great voice for a cold Tuesday night, referee Kevin Johnson got the game underway.

The first half began with the Town playing from right to left, with the Luton faithful ahead of them in the West Stand. The opening exchanges proved to be quite cagey, with Jake Howells getting stuck-in early to relieve Reggie Lambe of the ball early on. The next few minutes saw the Stags applying the pressure to the town back line, but never really challenging Tyler in the Luton goal.

The trend continued through the first twenty minutes, with the game being played out in the midfield of both sides. There were half-chances for both teams; Cullen connecting well with Stockley for the Hatters but with no clear way through on goal.

On 19 minutes, Mansfield Town made the first substitution of the match with Rakish Bingham coming on for Reggie Lambe. A substitution which would later pay dividends for the home team.

On 21 minutes, Jonathan Smith had to leave the field with a bloodied nose and the Hatters were momentarily down to ten men. Despite this, the match continued in its cat and mouse style. Again, there were half chances – on 31 minutes, Drury’s free kick fell to Smith who turned his man and almost managed to get the ball through to Lacey in front of goal.

Then on 32 minutes and somewhat against the run of play, substitute Bingham received a ball played deftly over Matt Robinson’s head. Finding himself in the clear, Bingham took his chance, shooting into the goal past the arms of Tyler. Until now this had been the only real the chance for the Stags.

The remainder of the first half played out much as the opening 35 minutes. The Stags upped the ante, but Lacey proved himself in defence, heading the ball clear on several occasions.

On the stroke of half time, a cross in from Smith met Jake Howells but his header went wide and so ended the first half, the home team a goal to the good.

John Still made two changes at half-time, bringing on Shaun Whalley and Nathan Oduwa, replacing Matt Robinson and Jake Howells and after the break, both teams came out looking to raise the pace. Early on, Jayden Stockley came close to putting Oduwa through with a clever reverse pass but was blocked by a Masfield defender. Oduwa, who looked sharp and hungry throughout the second half then made a run along the byline on the left of the goal but couldn’t quite deliver a killer cross. Likewise, Whalley made a nuisance of himself out on the left and the side looked more dangerous as a result.

Halfway through the second half, the pace of the game stepped up again as the midfield battle continued. On 67 minutes Cullen took a shot after some good work between Stockley and Whalley but the shot lacked power and the keeper gathers the ball comfortably.

Next there was a substitution for both sides, with Clements replacing Hislop for the stags, and Luke Guttridge coming on for Jayden Stockley. The Hatters faithful welcomed Guttridge back warmly for his return to the first team since sustaining a foot injury earlier in the season. This would be the third and final change from Still.

Then on 73 minues, perhaps Luton’s best chance. Cullen skilfully flicked the ball over his own head on the edge of the Mansfield box and with only had the keeper to beat he put the ball just wide of the left hand post, agonisingly close for in-form Cullen who had scored three times in the previous last two games.

With ten minutes to go, and the Mansfield crowd showing their frustration, the Stags tried to break down the Hatters defence. An attack built down the left hand side but Oduwa and Harriman tracked back with the ball eventually going out for a corner to Mansfield amounting to nothing. Shortly afterwards Andy Drury receives a yellow card for a strong challenge.

Four minutes into added time, a penalty shout as Guttridge seemed to be brought down in the box. Referee Johnson waved play on and the resulting shot by Smith ripples the side netting.

So ended a frustrating night for the Hatters, with John Still feeling disappointed, but satisfied with a hard-working performance from his team despite the result.

Attendance: 2998 with 821 Hatters making the journey to Field Mill.

[Although “mansfieldtownfc Attendance: 2,998 (801 away supporters).”]

TOWN: Tyler; Harriman Franks, Lacey, Griffiths, Drury (y), Robinson, Smith, Howells, Cullen, Stockley

Subs Used – Whalley, Guttridge, Oduwa

http://www.lutontown.co.uk/news/article/gallery-mansfield-1-0-town-2277973.aspx

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6c6d1hYMaco

Luton Town’s utterly miserable record at Field Mill continued tonight as they missed the chance to climb back into the Sky Bet League Two top three with a 1-0 defeat against struggling Mansfield.

The Hatters have never tasted victory at the home of the Stags in the league, from the very first meeting way back in 1932, a run spanning 12 meetings. Victory would have seen John Still’s side leapfrog Wycombe Wanderers and close the gap on leaders Shrewsbury, but they meekly surrendered their 10 game league unbeaten run.

As expected, Town boss John Still gave Alex Lacey his first start since October, for the suspended Luke Wilkinson, while Jake Howells replaced Nathan Oduwa. On the bench were Andy Parry and Ross Lafayette, recalled from loan spells at Southport and Woking respectively.

In a turgid first half ex-Luton midfielder Simon Heslop shot straight at Mark Tyler, while it took Hatters 17 minutes to register an attempt through Matt Robinson’s wayward volley.

Luton did finally make keeper Lenny Pidgeley work on the half hour as skipper Jonathan Smith beat a man and his low shot was easily palmed behind.

However, from Town’s corner, the visitors ended up somehow falling behind as Mansfield broke on them with devastating ease. Jack Thomas picked up possession out wide, firing over a lovely crossfield ball that beat last man Robinson and with the visitors defence nowhere to be seen, Rakish Bingham blasted confidently past Tyler.

Luton almost went 2-0 down as they were cut open once more, but this time, Junior Brown was denied by a fine Lacey block.

Hatters did fashion one opportunity before the break, as Drury escaped on the right, his looping cross nodded wide at the back post by Howells.

After an insipid opening 45, Still reacted positively by bringing on Shaun Whalley and Oduwa for Robinson and Howells, giving Town the pace to burn on either flank they had been woefully missing.

With a side that it could be argued Luton should have started with, Hatters did have one almighty escape, as Tyler completely misjudged Thomas’ cross and it bounced off the bar and away.

Stockley and Cullen finally combined for the latter to shoot, with Pidgeley holding on. Town’s leading scorer then missed a wonderful chance on 73 minutes, as after doing superbly to chip the ball over his opponent, he tapped wide when faced with just the keeper to beat.

Still threw on Luke Guttridge to try and find an equaliser, but with Mansfield opting to hang on as if they were reduced to 10 men, couldn’t find a way through.

Guttridge did create one last chance for himself, but after Pidgeley parried his shot, the ball went wide to Smith who could only fire into the sidenetting.

Stags: Lenny Pidgeley, Ritchie Sutton, Martin Riley, Ryan Tafazolli, Ricky Ravenhill (C), Simon Heslop (Chris Clements 68), Reggie Lambe (Rakish Bingham 18), Jack Thomas, Junior Brown, Vadaine Oliver (Matt Rhead 85), Callum Elder.

Subs not used: Sascha Studer, Jamie McGuire, Lee Beevers, Billy Kee.

Hatters: Mark Tyler, Michael Harriman, Scott Griffiths, Alex Lacey, Fraser Franks, Andy Drury, Matt Robinson (Shaun Whalley 46), Jonathan Smith (C), Jake Howells (Nathan Oduwa 46), Jayden Stockley (Luke Guttridge 68), Mark Cullen.

Subs not used: Elliot Justham, Andy Parry, Ross Lafayette, Ryan Hall.

Referee: Kevin Johnson.

Booked: Drury 90, Thomas 90.

Attendance: 2,998 (Luton 801)

Hatters MOM: Andy Drury. Possessed the slight flashes of quality that were on display from the visitors.

Town boss John Still was left frustrated after his side blew a great chance to move back into the top three with a 1-0 defeat at Mansfield Town last night.

Rakish Bingham’s goal that started from a Luton corner settled the affair, with Hatters failing to leapfrog Wycombe Wanderers as they remained in fourth place.

On missing the opportunity and the performance, Still said: “It’s disappointing because that would have put us three points off top, but we are still in a fantastic position

“(It was) frustrating, I don’t think we started great. I don’t think either team started great.

“I felt reasonably comfortable in the first half. We’ve made an error from one end of the pitch to the other. It was really an error that we shouldn’t make, it was basic.

“Other than that I never felt under pressure from them.

“Second half it was wave after wave. Mark’s (Cullen) done a fantastic bit of skill and put it past the post.

“We’ve had lots of balls in and around their box and not been able to get back in it.

“We did enough to grind this out, we didn’t and I think that’s possibly for two reasons.

“We just couldn’t get the finishing touch ourselves and the other team worked really, really hard to keep in the game.

“There you are, that’s football, we worked our absolute socks off and were disappointed but disappointment’s part of the job.”

Hatters only tested home keeper Lenny Pidgeley twice throughout the whole game, with Jonathan Smith and Mark Cullen coming close, while Smith fired into the side-netting late on.

Still felt the pitch had played his part as he continued: “I don’t think there were enough shots on target from both teams as it wasn’t a great lie of the ball.

“We’ve had a few pitches lately and I understand that’s how they are, but should we do better? Yes absolutely we should. But conditions are not that easy to get your final strike off.

“Smudge had a good effort in the first half, the keeper got a touch to it.

“I felt we made enough possible opportunities in the second half to score with Mark’s being a fantastic bit of skill and the form he is in, we would have expected him to score and he would expect to score.

“But he didn’t and it was that dour, gritty home performance from them.

“I just felt if we could get the goal, I actually felt we could possibly go on and get another one.

“It had that sort of feel about it, but from now until the end of the season, games are going to be lost, of course they are.”

Still made a double change at the interval, bringing on Shaun Whalley and Nathan Oduwa, while Luke Guttridge was introduced with 20 minutes remaining as Luton looked a far more balanced outfit.

The boss said: “I felt we probably needed to get the ball a touch wider, get a bit more pace on the outside of them and we thought that might work.

“With Gutts coming on, he is capable of that final pass, final shot, final cross. We did all of the things that we would expect to do to get back into it, but it didn’t work.”

Still also felt there could have been a late penalty for Guttridge as he tumbled inside the area, saying: “It’s one of those, if I’m over there and was a referee, it was a penalty, but I’m as far away as you can be.

“If I ask the players whether it was a penalty, they’d probably say, yes it probably was, but he didn’t give it, so I’m not going to moan about it.”