Mansfield Town 2
Wrexham 2
Back at Field Mill this afternoon on the back of a good home win against High flyers Grimsby Town. Stags Boss Peter Shirtliff made two changes bringing Adam Rundle and Alex John-Baptiste into the squad resigning Kyle Jacobs to the bench and Rundle is in replacing Gareth Jelleyman who was sent off in the week and is sitting out the first of a two match suspension.
Stags applied the pressure early on when Danny Reet had a chance in the first couple of minutes. But instead of striking at goal he played the ball back to Jon D'Laryea who had a stab at scoring but his shot was deflected but only as far as Rundle who chased the ball towards keeper Ingham. The Dragon's shot stopper managed, on this occasion to shepherd the ball out of play.
A tenth minute header from Skipper Barker was the culmination of some excellent inter play between much of the Stags forward players. The entire midfield had a part in it with Adam Rundle sending a great ball across to the edge of the box where Barker dived to make contact with it. A good contact from a powerful header called Ingham into action to deny the Stags captain.
IN the thirtieth Minuet D'Laryea slipped a ball through the Wrexham defence for Reet to run on to. The young Stags centre forward timed his run perfectly but the assistant referee felt he made his move to early and raised the flag for offside.
Dawson made a fantastic run in the 37th minute when a Wrexham attack was quickly countered deep in the Stags third. The ball was crossed to the right channel where Dawson flicked it over his mark and sped towards Ingham's goal. With two of the three defenders closing him down. Dawson passed the ball back to Rundle to have a go at scoring but his effort was blocked and it was Wrexham's turn to make an attack when the ball fell to Spender who fired a powerful shot towards Pressman's far post. The ball rattled the upright and rebounded to Spender to have another crack but this time it was dealt with by Jake Buxton.
In a first half that produced some clean and entertaining football there was no extra playing time added and the sides went into the changing rooms for their half time talk. Stags went into the break a little disappointed that they aren't at least a goal to the good after being on top for 45 minutes.
Coming back for the second period the Stags got of to a flying start with play been pegged back in the Wrexham half the opening minutes. Wrexham did manage to get the4 ball into the Stags third but Laurence Wilson who had being pivotal in the first half did well to deny the advances on loan forwards Williams and Derbyshire.
In the 51st minute Buxton played a real howler which led to the visitors taking the lead. Buxton's feeble back pass allowed Matt Derbyshire to intercept the ball, side step Pressman and knock the ball easily into the back of the net. From the restart Stags looking for the early reply burst forward in the shape of Danny Reet who pulled the trigger from the edge of the box but Keeper Ingham dropped to stop the ball.
The change in personnel came in the 58th minute when Simon Brown was brought on to replace Danny Reet. The change was obviously agreeable to the Stags faithful as the biggest cheer of the day came when he ran onto the pitch.
In the 62nd minute Derbyshire extended the Wrexham lead when he beat Buxton for pace and finished the move off with a low shot from the edge of the box that went underneath Pressman.
Now trailing by two goals Shirtliff brought Gus Uhlenbeek into play replacing Adam Rundle. As the game started with Uhlenbeek on the pitch Simon Brown was brought to ground as he raced into the Wrexham box leaving Referee Mr Lewis little option but to point to the spot. The spot kick was struck by Richie Barker in the 64th minute whose finishing was clinical and gave his team a lifeline and equalled his goal scoring record with eighteen.
Three minutes later a Gus Uhlenbeek across the box was met by none other than Richie Barker who headed home for the equaliser and now his new record.
At the opposite end of the park the other player desperate for a hat-trick Derbyshire drilled a volley over Pressman's goal.
Stags third and final change came in the 79th minute when Callum Lloyd replaced Giles Coke in the centre of midfield.
With ten minutes of normal playing time remaining Stags were on the break again with Brown through on goal but with the assistant referee flagging off side play came to an abrupt halt.
In the 87th Mark Jones was the first player to be booked following a challenge on Wilson that left him requiring treatment form Stags physio Paul Madin.
With the Stags temporarily down to ten men Richie Barker charged in to finish off a nice little through ball from Callum Lloyd but with Simon Brown being in an offside position play was quickly diverted to the Stags third with a Spender shot that was easily collected by Stags keeper Pressman.
As the fourth official indicated a minimum of three minutes of Extra playing time Stags took a corner that was headed by Hjelde calling Ingham into action to thwart his effort.
Mansfield: Pressman, D'Laryea, John-Baptiste, Dawson, Barker, Buxton, Coke (Lloyd 79), Rundle (Uhlenbeek 63), Hjelde, Wilson, Reet (Brown 58)
Subs NOT Used: White, Jacobs
Wrexham: Ingham, Whitley, Lawrence, Holt, Williams, Derbyshire, Crowell, Jones, Pejic, Spender, Williams
Subs Not Used: M Jones, Mackin, M Williams, Done, Mike Williams
Cautions: Mark Jones (57)
Referee: Mr G Lewis
Assts: Mr Birkett, Mr Smith
4th Off: Mr W Ramsay
