Paul Stephen reports from Field Mill
Mansfield booked their place in the FA Cup first round draw this afternoon after beating Altrincham convincingly 3-0 and making it six wins from their last seven games.
In a game where the home side rarely looked troubled, animosity and bad tempers flared towards the end earning the visitors a third sending off against the Stags following the two they received in our visit to Moss Lane a fortnight ago.
The Stags and Altrincham may well be separated by seven places and eight points in the league but, as we know, all teams must start equal in the World's most famous knock out competition.
Holdsworth made two changes from the side that won at Eastbourne a week ago with a recall for Ryan Williams and new signing Craig Dobson being handed his first start following an impressive debut performance last week from the bench. Top-scorer Rob Duffy was also named in the starting XI after fitness doubts in the week.
Before proceedings could get underway there was some excitement as Field Mill's new scoreboard was officially launched 10 minutes prior to kickoff. The Club also paid tribute to the late John Jarman, who passed away recently aged 78, with a minute's silence.
The game got underway in good conditions as the drizzle gave way to sunshine with Town kicking towards the North Stand. The first incident of the game occurred in the third minute when Duffy was felled by Alty defender James Smith near the centre circle. The resultant free kick was floated in harmlessly to the visitor's keeper Stuart Coburn who made an easy catch.
The Stags came close after just five minutes as Perry broke into the area from the right hand side. Although his shot flew a good metre over the bar, the shot was adjudged to have taken a deflection and a corner was given. However, the home side failed to capitalise on this spell of pressure and the corner was easily cleared.
Three minutes later Town had a decent penalty shout turned down as Duffy, finding space in the left hand side of the area, flicked a ball toward the near post which appeared to strike an arm. Despite loud protestations from the players, referee Jake Collin waved play on.
The Stags were made to concede a corner on the quarter hour mark as a ball was pumped out from Alty's half toward the goalmouth Marriot was defending. Aaron Burns tried to chase down the loose ball and pressured Luke Jones into heading it away for a corner. The subsequent kick was wasted by the visitors however, and was collected by a grateful Marriott.
Mansfield's growing confidence was made to count in the nineteenth minute as they finally took the lead in great fashion. Alty's defence was caught napping when a good move down the left led to a Perry cross toward the back post. Duffy was able to rise unchallenged six yards out to nod the ball past a helpless Stuart Coburn for his 10th goal of the season. As the ball nestled in the bottom corner, the striker ran half the length of the pitch to celebrate in front of the visiting dug-out in response to the unfair treatment metered out by Robin's manager Graham Heathcote to the striker when we faced them in the league at Moss Lane a fortnight ago.
Altrincham tried to reply with an equaliser soon after as they were awarded a free kick on the left hand edge of the area. Despite the dangerous position, Tom Kearney drilled his effort straight into the wall where it was scrambled away to safety.
The visitor's efforts to level the scores were frustrated once more in the 27th minute when the Stags doubled their lead following another catastrophic defensive error involving the Alty back four. As Coburn failed to deal with an under-hit back pass, Kyle Perry snuck in to whisk the ball away from his grasp. Although Perry's shot was blocked by the keeper, the deflection fell to Duffy who calmly rolled the ball into an empty net for his second goal of the game.
Mansfield were in the ascendant and never looked threatened except for the odd exception. This happened on the half hour mark as home fans had their hearts in their mouths when an Altrincham corner from the left hand side swept across in front of goal. Thankfully nobody was able to connect with it and it was hacked away to safety.
Alty were given another chance four minutes later when Nicky Clee was brought down under a clumsy challenge 40 yards out in front of goal. The resultant free kick was taken by Shaun Densmore who blasted his shot high and wide into the Quarry Lane End.
With around five minutes remaining of the first half, Altrincham's Robbie Williams and Kyle Perry clashed heads with both players falling to the ground and clutching their heads. Although the challenge looked fairly innocuous, Perry was deemed to have committed the foul and a free kick was duly awarded to the visitors.
Three minutes injury time were played out before the Stags trooped off the field to much applause in stark comparison to visiting manager Graham Heathcote who received a frosty reception from home fans around the tunnel as he also left the field.
Holdsworth was no doubt content with his men at half time as they put themselves in front and restricted the visitors to half chances and trying their luck from long range.
There was no room for complacency however as Altrincham were quickest out the traps following the half time break with Colin Little looking lively down the left hand side. Only two minutes after the restart, the Alty forward ran with impunity through the Stags' defence and was allowed to get a cross in. The ball fell to a rapidly advancing Shaun Densmore whose first touch was poor and the ball rolled out harmlessly for a goal kick.
Ten minutes later, Nicky Clee beat the offside trap and played a dangerous ball across the front of the Mansfield goal but it was gathered up by the outstretched hands of Marriott.
Town survived the early spell of pressure and made their first substitution of the day on 57 minutes when Jake Speight came on to replace goal hero Rob Duffy who had already done a great job in giving his side a two goal cushion.
The game was put completely beyond Altrincham's reach on 60 minutes when Perry made it three. Williams found Perry in acres of space on the edge of the 18 yard box where the striker, who looked curiously like a pirate with his head covered by a bandage as a result the head collision he was involved in during the first half, hit the ball first time hard and low past a helpless Coburn to put the Stags in a commanding 3-0 lead.
By now it was all one way traffic with Alty hardly venturing from their own half. On 68 minutes Dobson nearly capped off his home debut with a goal as he skipped past three defenders on the right hand side of the area and floated his shot just wide of Coburn's far upright.
Minutes later Mansfield received their first booking of the afternoon as Somner brought down Greg Young. Holdsworth took advantage of the stoppage to replace the impressive and hardworking Dobson with Steven Istead.
With only 10 minutes left on the clock, Mansfield made their final substitution of the afternoon as Perry was replaced by Blair Sturrock
The game took an ugly turn in the 85th minute when Tom Kearney made a shockingly mistimed challenge on Captain Gary Mills. His wild lunge earned him a straight red amidst boos from the home crowd. Temperatures rose again minutes later when Colin Little was booked for a late challenge on Gary Silk.
Five minutes injury time were signalled by the fourth official due to the many stoppages caused through ill-discipline and rash tackles from mainly the away side. They past uneventfully allowing the Stags to tie up another win here at Field Mill and a pass into the next round of the FA Cup.
Attendance: 2,410
Sponsors' Man of the match: Ryan Williams
Mansfield: Marriott, Heckingbottom, Mills, Jones, Garner, Somner, Duffy (Speight 57), Williams, Silk, Perry (Sturrock 79), Dobson (Istead 72).
