Marvellous Mansfield

[Branton Red]

Well played Mansfield. They were excellent and thoroughly deserved their victory. Playing some very good football.

I thought the match was more about how good they were than any deficiencies in the Rovers.

Mansfield have achieved 78 points in their last 39 League 2 games. Clearly they're an established, top class League 2 team as they showed today.

Rovers in comparison were shown to be, as throughout the season to date, a bit of a work in progress. The quality is there and we will improve.

Having said that 14 points from a very tough set of 7 opening fixtures is an incredibly good start.

No need to be downhearted about the result or match at all. Sometimes you just get beaten by the better team on the day.

[Spud]

Well played Mansfield. They were excellent and thoroughly deserved their victory. Playing some very good football.

I thought the match was more about how good they were than any deficiencies in the Rovers.

Mansfield have achieved 78 points in their last 39 League 2 games. Clearly they're an established, top class League 2 team as they showed today.

Rovers in comparison were shown to be, as throughout the season to date, a bit of a work in progress. The quality is there and we will improve.

Having said that 14 points from a very tough set of 7 opening fixtures is an incredibly good start.

No need to be downhearted about today's match at all. Sometimes you just get beaten by the better team on the day.

Totally agree, took their goals well & controlled us as the game wore on.
Heard comments saying shit game, can't agree with them, I thought it was a decent game, we've played worse & got results this season.
We've got an honest group that gave a good effort, I think the young lads are steadily improving & we should be in for a good season.

[Filo]

Two cases of poor defending on the edge of the box and a dodgy penalty cost us, and from where I was the foul on Tomlin was a stonewall penalty

[Padge_DRFC]

Faulkner and Williams were made to look novices today. After 2 decent games from the pair of them. Too many off it today. Really not sold on Miller. Tbf to the last he summed himself up in his own interview. Might be a bit naff at times but will run and run and run. True.

Tomlin takes a touch to the right and taps in instead of diving it's 2v2 and a different game despite being lucky to still be in it.

[colfromdonny]

Few turning points though, their worldy goal followed by a great save by their keeper and the 2 penalty decisions for and against us would have turned the game around 

[since-1969]

We can’t complain about today, we’ve got out of jail on some occasions and got a result to boot but that had to end with the players in the side not fully experienced , when playing a team that comes with a good game plan and belief . Our passing was poor and our lack of intensity in the final third left players chasing shadows and allowed Mansfield to pile forward at will . It could have been 1-5 . A bad result is better now than later !

[ravenrover]

Yep Mansfield deserved it1-3 flattered them though I thought Thought both our wide players eere weak today however thought that Hurst was pulled back before they scored. Looked a pen to me when Tomlin went down but made too much of a meal of it.
My Mansfield mate said their pen was a very weak decision but thats how it goes.
Also thought the ref lost it for the last 20mins aided by the West lino, how he gave Agard offside was beyond me

[vaya]

Few turning points though, their worldy goal followed by a great save by their keeper and the 2 penalty decisions for and against us would have turned the game around 

Hitting the post at the start of the second half as well.

[vaya]

Yep Mansfield deserved it1-3 flattered them though I thought Thought both our wide players eere weak today however thought that Hurst was pulled back before they scored. Looked a pen to me when Tomlin went down but made too much of a meal of it.
My Mansfield mate said their pen was a very weak decision but thats how it goes.
Also thought the ref lost it for the last 20mins aided by the West lino, how he gave Agard offside was beyond me

Beyond me as well, as he'd missed at least three offsides in the first half.

[roversdude]

We noticed the foul on Hurst too
They scored a worldy and doubt we will see a better save than the one their keeper made

[Padge_DRFC]

Tomlin dived. The fact he barely complained gave it away.

[dickos1]

Tomlin dived. The fact he barely complained gave it away.

To be fair it’s a good job he didn’t complain otherwise there’s a decent chance he’d of been sent off

[PDX_Rover]

Tomlin dived. The fact he barely complained gave it away.

He did. I think there was contact and If he’d gone down naturally instead of the dramatic arms out in front dive, might have got something.

[drfchound]

Why would Tomlin fall over though when he had the chance of a simple tap in.

[jmt23]

It was never a penalty, it was a good tackle and nothing more. We were not good enough today, didn’t win our battles and certainly never won a second ball - way off what is required!
Mansfield were better on the day- again! Let’s remember and return the favour in the return fixture!

[Panda]

Mansfield better, quicker, stronger and more determined all over the park today. We were crap at home again and were lucky to go in at the break level but nothing was said at half time to give us the impetus and we capitulated in the end.

In a weird way, i quite enjoyed seeing those Mansfield fans go nuts after what we got from the saddos at Salford the week previous. Nice just to have an atmosphere today. Just a shame we were shit and Mansfield weren't.

Credit to the Stags. Perfect away day (again) for them.

[steve@dcfd]

Can’t blame the centre halves for their two goals at the edge of the box. Today we got it wrong in midfield. Hurst and Molynuex were never in the game. They had three players in midfield who wouldn’t allow us to play.
We should have change the system as it wasn’t working going forward or stopping them play.
Should gone to back three put Knoyle and Hurst or Maxwell  wing backs. Move Rowe in to just behind a front two of Miller and new lad Woltman:
Stretch their back three who were all tall and long balls wasn’t working.
We were beat by a better side on the day but we got the tactics wrong.

[Padge_DRFC]

Can’t blame the centre halves for their two goals at the edge of the box. Today we got it wrong in midfield. Hurst and Molynuex were never in the game. They had three players in midfield who wouldn’t allow us to play.
We should have change the system as it wasn’t working going forward or stopping them play.
Should gone to back three put Knoyle and Hurst or Maxwell  wing backs. Move Rowe in to just behind a front two of Miller and new lad Woltman:
Stretch their back three who were all tall and long balls wasn’t working.
We were beat by a better side on the day but we got the tactics wrong.

Agreed poor from Mcshefferry today. He's done well in other games mind at changes made mind. 6 out of 7 isn't bad.

[Panda]

Couldn't believe my eyes. McSheffrey actually made a double sub on about 62 minutes instead of waiting until about 75 like normal. Sadly to no avail but a glimmer of hope that he is starting to react quicker when things clearly aren't working.

[BillyStubbsTears]

Two cases of poor defending on the edge of the box and a dodgy penalty cost us, and from where I was the foul on Tomlin was a stonewall penalty

Tomlin dived. That's the flip side of him. Brilliant but also prepared to cheat. It'll make it hard to love him.

That said, their penalty was about as soft as one as you'll ever see. Lapslie ran across Maxwell and went down. Looked like a looked for thing.

[selby]

  Billy I disagree, he fell theatrically, but was caught by the tackle after pushing the ball forward out of playing reach of the player making the tackle. 

[Armthorpe mickler]

It was a dive.He was lucky it was a yellow card.

[Padge_DRFC]

Two cases of poor defending on the edge of the box and a dodgy penalty cost us, and from where I was the foul on Tomlin was a stonewall penalty

Tomlin dived. That's the flip side of him. Brilliant but also prepared to cheat. It'll make it hard to love him.

That said, there penalty was about as soft as one as you'll ever see. Lapslie ran across Maxwell and went down. Looked like a looked for thing.

He's our WUM and I love it. The dive today not so much as it could have just been a simple tap in instead.

[BillyStubbsTears]

I thought Mansfield's defence looked very shaky in the first half. But their midfield overwhelmed us. They got in our faces and didn't give us a moment to play. It was an impressive performance but we have to be able to deal with that sort of approach if we are going to have a season.

Lapslie is the sort of player you'd love if he played for you. But I thought he got away with murder today. He left a foot in 6-8 times as players were completing passes. It rushed our lads because they knew there was a clattering coming if they didn't rush the pass. The ref did zero about it - only blew for a foul once when he clattered Maxwell late on, and ge bottled giving Lapslie a yellow card as he'd just shown him one for handball a couple of minutes earlier. When we next play them, we need someone to give him some back early doors.

[Panda]

At last in Tomlin we have a player who uses his noggin and uses the dark arts to gain an advantage. If you can't beat 'em....

[BillyStubbsTears]

But he didn't gain an advantage. He chuckled a possible scoring chance away by blatantly dying.

[Panda]

But he didn't gain an advantage. He chuckled a possible scoring chance away by blatantly dying.

Maybe but overall he'll give us more advantages than disadvantages by using his experience in this way.

I doubt the penalty at Northampton was a penalty but he bought the contact and went down. Today also i noticed he made a poor touch and tried to rectify the mistake by leaning into the Mansfield player and they both went down. The ref gave us a free kick in a dangerous crossing area. Tomlin knew he made the wrong decision with the ball and was going to lose possession and so he used his experience to lean in and con the ref. So clear what he was trying to do and that worked on that occasion.

Every single footballer in the pro game cheats. People need to adapt and live with / deal with it because it isn't going anywhere. Not saying it is right but it is what happens and is part of the culture of the game now.

[Chris Black come back]

But he didn't gain an advantage. He chuckled a possible scoring chance away by blatantly dying.

Bet he was mortified.

[Armthorpe mickler]

Did'nt like Wycombe cheating us last season and do not like Tomlin doing it this season.

[drfchound]

But he didn't gain an advantage. He chuckled a possible scoring chance away by blatantly dying.

Maybe but overall he'll give us more advantages than disadvantages by using his experience in this way.

I doubt the penalty at Northampton was a penalty but he bought the contact and went down. Today also i noticed he made a poor touch and tried to rectify the mistake by leaning into the Mansfield player and they both went down. The ref gave us a free kick in a dangerous crossing area. Tomlin knew he made the wrong decision with the ball and was going to lose possession and so he used his experience to lean in and con the ref. So clear what he was trying to do and that worked on that occasion.

Every single footballer in the pro game cheats. People need to adapt and live with / deal with it because it isn't going anywhere. Not saying it is right but it is what happens and is part of the culture of the game now.

Panda, you are right about all players cheating.
All of them do it at times but it is fair to say that some do it more often than others.
Personally I don’t think that Tomlin would go down on purpose when he had the chance of a tap in goal if he could have stayed on his feet.