Mansfield Town (U18s) 4-3 Doncaster Rovers (U18s)

Mansfield Town (U18s) 4-3 Doncaster Rovers (U18s)
FA Youth Cup
Tuesday 29th October 2019

Doncaster Rovers bowed out of the FA Youth Cup at the first hurdle - losing 4-3 in an unpredictable, nail-biting, end-to-end encounter with Mansfield Town.

It was a roller-coaster of emotions throughout the 90 minutes with genuine encouragement and belief for the majority of the first half after Junior Smith's opener put Rovers ahead.

The Stags struck either side of half-time to cause a sense of 'déjà vu' but Smith's emphatic close-range equaliser shortly after the hour mark meant hope was restored.

Mansfield then netted twice more to open up a two-goal cushion and they seemingly had victory sealed until Will McGowan stabbed home in the final few minutes.

Despite the hosts also having goalkeeper Maison Campbell red carded for violent conduct, they defended resolutely during six nail-biting minutes of injury-time to ensure a Second Round home tie with either Rotherham United or Haughmond.

Although it wasn't the prettiest of games to watch, defeat was still harsh on Rovers and the youngsters will need to get any negative feelings out of their system quite quickly, with Lincoln City up next in the Youth Alliance at the weekend.

Having lost twice to Mansfield already this season, this particular tie was probably the last one which any of the lads wanted when the First Round draw was made a fortnight ago.

On the flip side, nevertheless, it provided an opportunity for those players who'd appeared in the 6-3 and 1-0 losses in September to go out, prove a point and put in a big performance.

In the early stages, the lads looked bright, sharp and 'up for the occasion' under the Field Mill floodlights and they went ahead with a goal which owed plenty to a shade of good fortune in more ways than one.

Smith trickily twisted, turned and advanced into the penalty area and, though he saw his initial attempt blocked, the Stags couldn't clear their lines effectively. Amidst the panic, someone in a red and white shirt had strayed clearly into an offside position and they knocked it back to Smith, who poked a low shot into the bottom-right corner.

Mansfield complained that it was offside (which it was) but with no VAR in the FA Youth Cup, it didn't matter and the boys had the advantage.

Immediately from the re-start, Jimmy Knowles whistled a shot narrowly over the upright in a cleverly orchestrated and quick attack, but that was as much as the hosts offered, attacking-wise, as Rovers instead controlled the pace of the game.

Things could have got even better had Jack Watson found the target with a snap-shot after a long ball over the top was misjudged by a defender and quickly fell to him.

The Stags bench were in the ear of the officials as often as possible and it wasn't long until they were complaining vociferously again - this time after Shamar Lawson's powerful 25-yard shot ricocheted off the upright, bounced down and came back into play.

Like the goal conceded - maybe they had a point and my personal gut-instinct reaction was that the ball may well have crossed the line!

Nevertheless, the hosts weren't venturing forward very often and Rovers were still dictating things at this stage (to a degree) - territorialy on top and showing glimpses of their passing ability, despite a wet and testing pitch which players from both teams were often slipping on.

What the lads needed to do at this stage was to step things up to the next level, pull their counterparts apart and create something which they could get a second goal from.

Elliott Walker and Smith linked up well in one particular attack and the signs were good, but six minutes before half-time came a sucker punch which instantly swung momentum in favour of the Nottinghamshire's third biggest club.

Lirak Hasani's poor free-kick cheaply gave Mansfield possession and although the lads briefly won the ball back, the Stags soon found it again. Knowles eventually received the ball in the middle and was allowed to venture forward unchallenged before he hit a speculative, low 20-yard drive which somehow evaded Ben Bottomley and ended up in the net.

There's no doubt that Bottomley could have done better with it, yet the equaliser was somewhat out of the blue, harsh on Rovers, and a bit of a 'get out of jail free card' for Mansfield as it remained 1-1 by the interval.

In all honesty, during the lads' spells of territorial pressure in the opening 45 minutes, they didn't play the ball into feet in dangerous areas often enough and Marius Conradi, in attack, sometimes drifted into areas where he wasn't going to be a scoring threat from.

On the whole, the display was okay in parts up to a point... but not beyond that point.

With Mansfield now on level terms, the early stages of the second half saw two big opportunities at both ends; the first of which saw Nathan Dimou perfectly placed to get on the end of a set-piece cross and his powerful header was palmed away by the home 'keeper.

It proved to be an important save as five minutes later, the hosts went ahead when Rio Molyneaux got the better of Lewis Cunningham, position-wise, to reach onto a left-wing cross and stab the ball past Bottomley from close-range.

The Stags were now in the lead and buoying with confidence for the first time in the game.

What Donny needed was inspiration and they sought that in midfielder Charlie Bell, who replaced Marius Conradi on the hour mark - a substitution which meant Liam Ravenhill was pushed further forward to support Watson and Smith in attack.

Given the dilemma with the scoreline, Smith soon provided the perfect response as he made it 2-2 on 64 minutes; slamming the ball emphatically into the roof of the net from close-range after Walker's low ball into the six-yard box.

It was another slightly unexpected moment in this topsy-turvy, unpredictable game - and now things were poised perfectly.

Somehow, despite the Rovers equaliser, Mansfield managed to settle their nerves, regain their focus, and they'd begun to get on top again by the time Bell was cautioned for a fully-committed challenge on the lively Knowles.

With a quarter of an hour to go, crucially, the hosts' pressure paid dividends.

After a good, well-worked flowing move, Ben Bayliss showed really good persistence by applying pressure on the byline to win possession, keep the ball and subsequently cut it back for Knowles who unleashed a low drive into the net to make it 3-2. It was a well-orchestrated move which deserves credit.

Rovers tried desperately to lift themselves following the setback but over the next few minutes, too many passes went astray, too many heads appeared down and the Stags continued to lurk, loiter and have the ball in dangerous areas.

It seemed as though another goal would put the result beyond doubt and within a few minutes, Molyneaux looked up from the edge of the area, spotted Bottomley just off his goal-line and looped a speculative effort up and over the back-peddling 'keeper and subsequently into the net.

There was nothing the Rovers 'keeper could do about it - it was simply a high-quality finish, even though it's questionable how (or why) Molyneaux had been afforded the time, space and opportunity to finish from that position.

Josh Clemitson and Owan Derrett were both introduced in the closing stages and, in honesty, a miracle was needed for the visitors to get back on level terms.

The Reds did give themselves hope, nevertheless, when Will McGowan swept home amidst a minor goalmouth scramble on 86 minutes to reduce the deficit to just a single goal - and the strike sparked a melee inside the six-yard box.

Campbell, the Stags' goalkeeper, tried to cling onto the ball in order to waste a few precious seconds and then, rather ridiculously, lost his temper and aimed a punch at someone as several players rushed towards the melee. Once everything had settled down, the 'keeper was shown a red card - and some individuals on Mansfield's bench didn't like what they heard when it was pointed out that the player deserved to go for such naive behaviour.

It's simple though really. As soon as you raise your hands - especially with the referee two yards away, you're basically giving him an excuse to brandish a card. If you don't raise your hands, you don't give him that excuse. Nobody else can be blamed in any way, shape or form.

Often, you can get away with holding onto the ball or kicking it away - that's gamesmanship, part and parcel of football, and it happens everywhere, every week, and at every level, but raising your hands is just plain daft. It's all part of a learning curve though!

Anyway, despite Rovers pressure in and around the box and many clearances, luckily for the 'keeper, the six minutes of stoppage-time passed without any further goals.

At the final whistle, many of the lads were flat out on the pitch exhausted - a lot of whom no doubt had emotions of dejection, frustration and upset running through their body.

Simply put, the reason Mansfield won is because they got themselves in decent positions on the pitch and created the more dangerous openings, which subsequently meant they had the better chances to score goals from.

The lads' overall performance wasn't awful, nor was it great and, truthfully, there were too many direct balls and some ineffective passages of play in areas which didn't test or hurt the opposition enough.

It's important, however, that nobody dwells on this for too long and any negative energy is instead focused on producing a better display against Lincoln City this coming weekend.

Team: Ben Bottomley, Elliott Walker (Josh Clemitson), Nathan Dimou, Ben Blythe (C), Lewis Cunningham, Lirak Hasani, Will McGowan, Liam Ravenhill, Junior Smith (Owan Derrett), Marius Conradi (Charlie Bell), Jack Watson. Unused Subs: Kian Johnson, Max Jemson, Luca Nelson.