The Stags were beaten by the Gladiators as Matlock Town continue their unbeaten pre-season run

A tough and demanding encounter for the Stags allowed the players to get more minutes into their legs as pre-season preparations continue to be ramped up.

Mansfield Town travelled to the Proctor Cars Stadium on a warm and sunny Friday evening as the Gladiators welcomed the Stags to Derbyshire.

The amber and blues still were without a number of first-team players as they continued to self-isolate after receiving notifications from the NHS Track and Trace System.

That promoted new signing Rhys Oates into the starting XI as he joined Danny Johnson and Oli Hawkins up front.

The first half chance of the game came in the first minute. Hawkins flicked on Owen Mason’s long goal-kick into the path of his strike partner Johnson, but Matlock’s goalkeeper, who was an un-named trialist, rushed out of his goal to claim the ball first.

Oates had his first chance to shine in amber and blue colours as Ollie Clarke slid the forward through. Once more though, the Gladiators goalkeeper claimed the ball with Stags’ newest recruit inches away finding a way through.

George Lapslie, playing in an unorthodox central defensive midfielder role, had the first shot of the game but his effort was easily claimed by the Matlock shot-stopper.

The breakthrough in the encounter was found in the 14th minute and it were the hosts who opened the scoring. Matlock’s Alex Byrne showed fantastic vision to send a clever ball over the Stags’ defence with his pass finding forward Liam Hughes inside the box. The Matlock captain pulled the ball back for Callum Chippendale who found the back of the net from 10 yards.

Mansfield Town continued to knock on the door through Lapslie and Stephen McLaughlin but they were unable to find the back of the net as the Gladiators held onto their lead.

The hosts squandered a fantastic chance in the later stages of the first-half. After a defensive mix-up from the Stags defence, Jonathan Wafula surged clear through on goal, but effort was expertly saved by goalkeeper Mason.

Matlock headed into the half-time interval with the upper hand as the amber and blues had to go again with Nigel Clough rallying his troops in the break.

Tyrese Sinclair came on for Rhys Oates with the tricky forward making an immediate impact. His corner kick found the head of Ollie Clarke, but Stags’ skipper headed over.

Clough’s men continued to have the lion’s share of possession as they looked for an equaliser. Sinclair had a few efforts that were either off target or saved by the Matlock’s shot-stopper and second-half substitute, Shaun Rowley.

With 11 minutes to go, Ollie Clarke found Corey O’Keeffe with a lovely through ball but the wing-back’s shot was well charged down.

In the latter stages of the game, both sides went down to ten men. A Matlock un-named trialist was shown a second yellow card for pulling back Nathan Caine with the Stags seeing Elliott Hewitt come off after a slight thigh pull, but the amber and blues used up all of their substitutes and were unable to replace the defender with another player.

Mansfield Town continued to knock on the door, however, they were did not find an equaliser as Matlock continued their winning form in pre-season with a 1-0 win.

The Stags players were able to get more minutes under their belts as they continue to build up their preparations ahead of the new 2021/22 EFL League Two season.

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