The Stags emerge victorious in a tightly contested match against Cambridge United

Tyler Walker 63rd-minute goal proved to be vital as Mansfield Town were victorious yet again beating opposition Cambridge United 1-0 at the One Call Stadium.

Early on the sides looked like they wanted to keep possession of the ball and didn’t really show any threat inside the penalty area.

The 20th minute saw Walker break free from his markers in the Cambridge penalty area but, his attempt to put the ball goal wards was blocked immediately by Cambridge defender George Taft.

In the 30th minute, the Stags tried to break on the counter attack, a lovely ball from Alex MacDonald found its way to CJ Hamilton but, subsequently the winger failed to make anything of the opportunity due to being marked by two Cambridge defenders.

Cambridge themselves were not without threat, though, highlighted when Brad Halliday’s goal-bound effort had to be punched clear by Conrad Logan A few minutes later, the U’s tried their luck once more but were thwarted by Ben Turner’s block.

In the dying stages of the first half, Walker shaped to shoot towards Dimitar Mitov’s goal, yet his effort sailed of the bar. A dull first-half ended all square at the One Call after neither side were able to create a chance that would trouble either of the goalkeepers.

Flitcroft opted to replace Turner with Sweeney at the interval as the Stags chased their latest victory in Sky Bet League Two. But it was the visitors who almost found the opener when Alex Jones’ neat flick, that looked to be sneaking in, was grasped by Logan.

Both Danny Rose and Jacob Mellis the entered the fray on the hour mark as they came on for Gethin Jones and Neal Bishop respectively.

Mansfield created their real first scoring chance in the 63rd minute which was turned into a goal with the deadlock finally being broken when substitute Jacob Mellis played a fantastic ball to the edge of the area into striker Tyler Walker who dribbled the ball past the Cambridge defender and slotted it into the bottom corner.

Cambridge looked for an instant response to falling behind but could only find a resolute Stags’ back-line in their path.

On the 70th minute mark, lovely one-two play between Mal Benning and with Stags goalscorer Walker saw the latter have his shot deflected out for a corner, which came to nothing as the ball was played to short and saw Cambridge nearly attack the Stags defence but, the Stags defence were cool and cleared the danger away from their penalty area.

The last few moments saw the U’s pile on the pressure for a late equaliser.

Substitute Rushian Hepburn-Murphy received possession inside the Stags’ penalty area, but Logan arrived with a huge save to deny the youngster and keep his side in the driving seat.

The Cambridge striker would have raced clear minutes later, too, had it not been for a heavy touch that saw the Mansfield goalkeeper to claim the ball comfortably.

Into the 94th minute, Walker looked to return the favour for Mellis, but his reverse pass was intercepted at the last.

With the score finishing 1-0 to the Stags, this saw them climb up the table into second place and yet again into the automatic promotion place as scores from elsewhere went in Mansfield’s favour. Cambridge United, subsequently after the loss dropped to 20th place closer to relegation.

The Stags’ next league outing takes them to the PTS Academy Stadium on Saturday to face Northampton Town as they look to build on their recent form which may see them promoted into League One.

[columns]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”609″ heading=”EFL” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[column size=”1/2″][blog type=”timeline” posts=”10″ cats=”117″ heading=”English Football” heading_type=”timeline” /][/column]
[/columns]