Youngsters beaten 3-0 by NC Central on cold afternoon at Kirklington Road.
Our youngsters’ unbeaten record in the Football Conference Youth Alliance (Midland Division) came to an abrupt end as they lost 3-0 to NC Central at a misty Kirklington Road.The Stags struggled to generate much rhythm on a frustrating afternoon and fell behind after nine minutes when Tom Ramshall’s long-range free-kick evaded the dive of Adam Bishop.
Matters went from bad to worse before half-time as NC Central’s Tom Scott was fouled inside the area and the player dusted himself down to convert the resulting spot-kick.
Mansfield rallied after the re-start and squandered a golden opportunity to reduce arrears when Tino Chavundura flashed a drive across a packed area, which hit the chest of Luke Thomas and went agonisingly wide.
Ollie Roome thought he should have been awarded a penalty on 68 minutes, but with none forthcoming, the visitors then went straight down the other end and extinguished any hopes of a comeback with Joe Coxon knocking the ball into the net.
NC Central had Sean Craven sent-off for dissent with about a quarter-of-an-hour remaining, but they held on to record three points and stretch their lead at the top of the table.
Team: Bishop, Chavundura, Shelton, Hutchinson (c), Holmes, Punter, Groves, Thomson, Thomas, Roome, Saxton (McLeod).
