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Town come crashing with a bump

Coalville Town 2nd XI  1 Mansfield 2nd XI  4

BodyKraft 2nd XI East Midlands Premier Division

In a match between two teams on the fringe of the promotion chasing pack, Town’s second string came crashing down to earth with a bump as they were outclassed and outfought by a tough and uncompromising Mansfield team, going down to their biggest home defeat of the season.

  Right from the start it was the visitors who came out fighting with a fast and furious display of skilful attacking hockey that pinned Town back into their own half, frantically defending their goal. Renowned for being a hard tackling side with plenty of mouth to go with it, Mansfield did not disappoint and deservedly took the lead after just five minutes. 

Tom Sloan, looking to take the ball past his attacker, lost it on the Town right allowing the visitors to break down their left flank putting pressure on the remaining back line. Outnumbered two to one and with no other defensive cover to call on, Carl Marshall was drawn out of the middle to cover the break but was unable to intercept the squared ball across the dee to a supporting forward who gave Paul Marston in the Town goal no chance with the strike. 

Town were finding the visitors strong tactics difficult to handle as further chances loomed, however they managed to hold the line as Stuart Jobburn and Ian Wright combined with Marshall to gain some sort of hold at the back.

With Jobburn confined mainly to defensive duties it was left to Darren Conway and Brent Clamp to find some strength in midfield but progress into the opposition half was extremely difficult, however they managed to find some rhythm from somewhere as Town equalised after 12 minutes. 

With Jobburn finally joining the attack, it was his final pass into the dee that found Niki Arnold, and despite some defensive pressure, the striker tucked a neat shot past the advancing keeper. 

However this home pressure did not last as Mansfield came back strongly to test the Town defence and some desperate clearances were needed to keep them out. Unfortunately sloppy play out on the Town right, where Sloan was again caught out, allowed them to break away after 21 minutes and the speed of their attack slicing through Town’s back line ended with a neatly taken goal.

 Town could find no answer as passes went awry and tempers began to flare but frustration was the main enemy of the home side as they struggled to match up to the visitors. In between time, Marston was asked to make two lightning saves but even he couldn’t stop a third on 34 minutes. Winning a penalty corner, the visitors pushed the ball around the Town dee, finally ending when a shot on goal found it’s way between Marston and the post as defenders looked on. 

The introduction of team skipper Tony Crowie, normally such an influential attacker, found no advantage on the play as the powerful visitors team poured forward looking for another goal but the Town backline held out as the minutes ticked by.

Turning round 3 – 1 down, the tide did not change as Mansfield kept up the momentum. With Scott Meadows pushed back onto the right flank, and Aiden Spilsbury and Jordan Ward finally managing to get into the game, Town tried hard to put some passes together, but generally players just found no way through as they over ran the ball or passes just went astray. 

Despite being under tremendous pressure, Marshall and Wright found themselves overworked and it was only due to some superb tackles from Wright which kept the visitors at bay. Again Marston was forced into another good save, but the visitors went further ahead after 50 minutes when a shot on goal struck Wright on the knee as he was defending the line, which saw them awarded a penalty stroke, which although Marston came close to stopping the flick as the ball just went under his body.

Despite being on the defensive for most of the time, Town tried hard to break the Mansfield stranglehold as Jobburn joined Crowie, Conway and Clamp in midfield and although they managed to break through the visitors backline from time to time, the final pass was of poor quality. 

Players were holding onto the ball too long, continually running into a brick wall, but the main factor running through the game was that they were too slow to the breakdown allowing the visitors to break up the home side’s attacks using this as a springboard for themselves. In attack, and often on his own, Arnold was having a frustrating time as he tried hard to get things moving but support disappeared all too easily when well placed, but generally ball delivery for him was woeful.

The last few minutes were played out at a slower pace as the visitors eased off the peddle but Town will need to turn up for the next game with a more resolute attitude if they want to finish the season on a winning note.