It would prove to be a longer journey for the Stags then anticipated on Saturday. Mansfield had made a reasonable start to the new season, collecting 7 points out of a possible 15.
However, Saturday justified critics comments that Mansfield Town will ‘always truly be a 3rd division team’ and ‘aren’t a good enough team for division two’. The Mansfield bandwagon was rolling into Swansea with high aspirations. However what would happen would be a ‘stiff kick in the arse’ for the Mansfield side.
Mansfield lined up with Kevin Pilkington in goal as well as a tenacious back four in Hassell, Vaughan, Day and Artell. The midfield general Wayne Corden was alongside Mackenzie, Williamson and Liam Lawrence. Christie and Mendes had connected well in recent games. So Mansfield arrived at Vetch Field, with a tight back four, a hard tackling midfield and a razor sharp attack. Mansfield should have pasted the Swans in this match.
However, 6 minutes into match, Iyseden Christie and Ezzy Iriekpen had a confrontation. Now Christie claims that Iriekpen put his fingers in his mouth however Christie’s story is hard to believe. The most interesting thing about it was, it was miles away from the actual play itself. 2 Minutes later and Christie was walking back through the tunnel he had only 7 minutes earlier emerged from. Durken netted for Swansea on 15 minutes and the worst was yet to come. However, against the run of play Tony Vaughan netted for the Stags. A short breath in a smoke filled room.
Stags came out with high hopes, Stags never lacked spirit and went in for every challenge with passion. Half time hit, and Swansea seemed to have been weakened by the equaliser, this was not to be the case. They had Mansfield beaten by the time Trundles penalty went in making it 3-1. Tony Vaughan lunged in on Britton, and it was a foul. Simplified, it was a harsh challenge.
There was no need for Lee Williamson to come in and boot the player, it was un-professional and was his doom. Thanks to his outburst, he will be slammed with a 3 match ban. Swansea didn’t even get a card, in a match who looked at more like a war then an actual football match. Was the referee biased? I think not, although in his rookie year, the referee wouldn’t be out there if he was not qualified.
Looking back on the match, I see clumsy fouls, easily preventable mistakes and a team which could quickly slip down the table if drastic measures aren’t administered. Des Lynam said it best ‘you can spend as much money on players however a mistake costs the biggest prize’.