Robin Hood 4 Mansfield Athletic 0
After last week’s game where we couldn’t buy a goal until the last 5 minutes we went into today looking to get a good result and performance against one of our main league rivals.
James Hurt returned after a 2 week absence but again we were without Jack CC, Oli Bailey and the inspirational James Mac. So a change about in the defence saw Ronnie pair up with Dec and the dependable Reggie and Jacob by their sides. Midfield saw Kian and Tommo in the centre with Luke looking to add to his man of match performance of last week and a well-earned start for Maddo on the right. The usual forward line of Tom and Conor giving us a very strong looking line up.
The game started and with us looking to play as instructed passing around we got caught in possession and Mansfield Athletic pressed well but were unable to take advantage. Tom was the first on the shots register with a cracking strike just over, and after some good work in midfield Conor put Tom through with just the keeper to beat put his shot just wide. Mansfield were catching us a bit on the break and if it wasn’t for 2 fantastic saves from Kieran we could have found ourselves two down and a very big hill to climb. But as it was we defended well with Dec and Ronnie starting to work well with each other. We kept pressing and trying to work the ball as a team. Our rewards came from a great strike from Tommo whose shot misjudged by their keeper sweetly nestled into the bottom corner. Changes were made and James came on down the right and it wasn’t long before he became provider for our 2nd goal. Some great work from Kian playing the ball wide found James who skipped past one and put a cross low and hard looking for someone to tap it in. After flying past Conor and their defender it was Harri that popped up at right time to slot home. So 2-0 half time score line a fair reflection of the game.
At halftime we wanted more passing and composure and to be a little tighter in defence and the game should be ours. Luke made way for Maddo on the left and that was the only real change. The 2nd half was all us really with Mansfield not threatening our goal and Kieran being more of a spectator. Our 1st chance of the half came with Conor rounding the keeper but his shot was cleared off the line. Kian working really hard in the middle had a strike from distance that went just wide and then Tom hit the post after another piece of great play. We made a few changes bringing Ronnie into the midfield and asking Conor to do us a job at the back for the last 15 mines. The change worked and Tom made sure this week his hard work was rewarded and a looping header from a Ronnie cross found the back of the net. The best was yet to come and we scored probably one of the best team goals I have ever seen. All one touch Maddo to Reggie inside to Kian to Ronnie back to Maddo through to Luke and a fine cross found Tom to finish with ease. A great great goal and hopefully signs of things to come.
