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Mansfield Town have been very careless so far this season. The Stags have been very poor at holding their leads out until the end of the game and it’ll be punished in every single game.
The Amber and Blues really need to sort themselves out defensively as they have been punished every single time with the Stags only able to pick up two points in four league games.
A wonder strike from Stephen McLaughlin put Mansfield 1-0 up away at Newport County with a debut start and a first goal for the Irishman in club colours.
Most of the fans looked at the score in the 70th minute and for sure wanted the Stags to hold onto the lead and to get their first win in League Two this season.
Newport turned it around and beat the Stags 2-1 in the end. Jordan Bowery’s failed clearance saw Scott Twine pounce on the loose ball and slam it home from inside the 18-yard box.
A decision of a penalty was given by referee Sam Allison as Rollin Menayese conceded the penalty to Padraig Amond as the Newport striker dinked the ball which hit the Mansfield defender’s arm which saw Matt Dolan convert from 12 yards.
Two losses in two games and only two points have been picked up in the last four games. The last three games have seen Mansfield slip from their leads.
Firstly against Leyton Orient then against Exeter and against Newport. These defensive errors have to be eradicated if the Stags want league wins.
The Stags have secured the services of Ferrand Rawson, Rollin Menayese, Aaron O’Driscoll, Corey O’Keeffe and James Perch.
The real problem is with the central defenders. Wing-backs that have played like O’Keeffe and Benning have dealt with their issues very well.
Rawson and Menayese have struggled in the league so far. Rawson scored an own goal against Exeter and Menayese has made a few big mistakes in games that should have been won.
The departure of skipper Krystian Pearce has seen a big downfall in defensive displays for the Nottinghamshire based club.
The Stags face a side four places above them this weekend, Stevenage. Their record has been a mixed bag.
Coming back from 1-0 down to draw 1-1 with Barrow, a 3-0 thumping of Oldham, a slip against Bradford that saw a 1-0 lead taken away from them as Bradford beat them 2-1 and a recent narrow 1-0 defeat to Salford.
Stevenage have stayed up after Macclesfield’s misfortunes last season regarding financial problems as they look to stay up legitimately this time round.
The Stags have been unfortunate against Stevenage in the last couple of games. Stevenage were the team to beat as they were occupying 24th place for most of the season.
The One Call Stadium saw domination from minute one as the Stags attacked and attacked but were unable to get through the defence and get past Stevenage goalkeeper Paul Farman. The game ended in a goalless 0-0 draw but Mansfield managed 22 shots compared to Stevenage’s four.
The biggest defeat which hurt the Stags massively was at the end of the 2018/19 season. 27th April 2019, Mansfield were close to getting promoted up into League One for the first time in their history. A win or a draw would have put them a step closer to the Third Division.
A quiet second-half saw Mansfield fans calm and what they needed to have a chance at going up. Kurtis Guthrie had other ideas with 20 minutes to go as he gave Stevenage the lead.
Conrad Logan’s long punt forward found Nottingham Forest loanee, Tyler Walker, as he dinked Farman to bring the scores level at 1-1 as the Stags looked to get a win.
It wasn’t meant to be in the end as the Amber and Blue defence was hit on the counter-attack by Ilias Chair in the dying embers of the game as the strikers slotted the ball into the back of the net in the second minute of added time and gift Stevenage a 2-1 win.
The Stags will look to grab their first victory of the season against Stevenage, but it will only come if the defensive errors have been cut out and discussed by between the manager and the defensive unit.
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