George Maris shows all of his qualities as Mansfield Town get a crucial victory over Morecambe

Credit: Adrian Kita

Mansfield Town’s 1-0 victory over the Morecambe at the One Call Stadium was their first victory since January 23rd. George Maris was a key component in a fantastic defensive display.

Starting his career at Barnsley, the midfielder has virtually played in every position across the midfield and all of the positions in the front-line.

His life in Yorkshire was very short-lived as he failed to make a real impact at the Tykes and was loaned out time after time before securing a permanent move to Cambridge United in July 2016.

The now 24-year-old made his mark in League Two football in 2017/18 as his creativity shone brightly as the U’s finished in 12th, but Maris scored ten goals and assisted five times in a very impressive season for the midfielder.

2018/19 was a season where Cambridge endured a relegation battle as they survived by the skin of their teeth staying up in the division by six points with the Sheffield-born midfielder contributing to ten goal contributions that season.

Last season, his goal contributions dried up as one goal and three assists in 30 appearances was not what the midfielder has shown in previous seasons, but with the season being cut short due to the ongoing pandemic it was probably a good time for Maris to find a challenge elsewhere.

After 150 appearances for the club that put faith into him, he signed for Stags in the summer of 2020 on a two-year-deal under Graham Coughlan.

The Irish manager deployed him as a centre-midfielder with the intention of creating chances and pushing the team forward as he did so well at Cambridge.

With the announcement of Nigel Clough as the new Stags manager, the English manager has made created a more defensively-minded midfielder who looks to win the ball and have a presence that is known all around the pitch.

Ollie Clarke, Stephen Quinn and Maris have created a fantastic midfield trio as Clough allows Clarke to push forward and use his speed and determination to glide through the gears as the experienced Quinn helped the aforementioned Maris in the defensive duties as the two ahead of the back-line.

Maris’ defensive duties were on display as he continued to show how and why his transition to a more defensively-minded midfielder has been crucial in Mansfield’s transition up the league table rather than down.

Adding onto his fantastic placement ahead of the back-line, he used his creativity and attacking intent at the right-time and wanted the ball at all times as he looked to mix his defensive ability and his forward-thinking into a winning mixture.

Being only 5ft 9 usually is a bad thing when being a CDM, but Maris still was able to win 14 aerial duels out of 14 that he attempted and proved that height is just a thing, whereas willingness to win the ball makes a player successful.

Having to hold onto their one-goal lead for over 45 minutes, the Stags needed their midfield to be switched on and know when to transition from defence to attack.

Mansfield most definitely need the victory after losing three consecutive matches before this fixture. The hosts just need to get the basics correct and work with patience and urgency.

Jordan Bowery’s goal was crucial near the end of the first-half as it set the tone for the second 45 minutes as the Stags needed to defend but if they are able to move forward they should do so.

Maris’ Man of the Match performance suggested how much the Mansfield players wanted the match as the willingness and determination, that lacked in the three losses, just pinpoints how much that can change how the game is played.

Clough will now be hoping that his midfield and defence can eradicate the mistakes made in the past and move forward, putting bodies in the line of fire and making sure that clean sheets are more present for the amber and blues.

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