The Stags end their winless streak at One Call Stadium to consolidate their place in mid-table.
Vs Plymouth Argyle, D 1-1. Watch highlights by clicking here.
Vs Southend United, W 2-1. Watch highlights by clicking here.
Vs Oxford United, L 0-3. Watch highlights by clicking here.
Vs Fleetwood Town, W 1-0. Watch highlights by clicking here.
Vs Bury, L 1-4. Watch highlights by clicking here.
A new month heralded the longest away journey of the campaign for us as we made the 533.6-mile round-trip pilgrimage to Plymouth Argyle.
The match at Home Park was far from a classic, but one where our team put themselves on course for victory as Matt Rhead fired home an opener with just a quarter-of-an-hour remaining.
John Sheridan’s team weren’t going to lie down and give up without a fight, however, and six minutes into injury-time, Lewis Alessandra grabbed an equaliser as we let two precious points slip from our grasp.
When Southend United visited One Call Stadium the following weekend, our winless streak on home soil stood at 11 matches and stretched back as far as September.
The odds seemed to favour Phil Brown’s Play-Off chasing side from Essex, but there was to be a twist. Our team looked slick and stylish as they tore into the Shimpers and Sam Clucas put us on course for a much-needed win when he latched onto Martin Riley’s long ball and slotted home. James Jennings doubled our lead midway through the second half and despite a late consolation strike by Ryan Leonard deep into stoppage-time, we held on to record a vital 2-1 success.
Heavy overnight downpours put paid to our re-arranged midweek clash with Bury, and in our next encounter we succumbed to down 3-0 to managerless Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium.Â
The following week we played another team with promotion aspirations in the shape of Graham Alexander’s Fleetwood Town – a club who we had never beaten in seven previous attempts.
Nevertheless, our hoodoo against the men from the Fylde coast finally came to an end. Frontman Matt Rhead was the match-winner – placing a bullet-header into the top corner on the half-hour mark to give us a 1-0 success.
Confidence was high ahead of our newly re-arranged clash with Bury, but it was a miserable night for us as we slumped to a 4-1 defeat, which left us just above the drop zone.
Following the defeat to the Shakers, we also bid farewell to Simon Murphy – the physio moving on to Premier League-destined Leicester City.
