Stags’ boss David Flitcroft says his thoughts are entirely with Danny Rose after the striker was involved in a heavy collision during the second-half of this afternoon’s clash against Newport County.
A stretcher was called onto the field of play after the incident, yet Rose was thankfully able to walk off the pitch, assisted by Stags’ medical staff and an oxygen mask.
The Mansfield manager says that the striker is ‘with the right people,’ stating that the facial injury added to a ‘horrible’ afternoon.
“I’ve just experienced 100 minutes of horrible football from both teams,” he said. “It was probably one of the worst football experiences I’ve had watching the game.
“Newport take it out of you and the referee helped them take our rhythm. The amount of fouls – we couldn’t get into any rhythm or fluidity whatsoever.
“He [referee] missed, for me, a red card on Tyler Walker. He’s nearly snapped him off, you should see the mark on Walker just under his knee. He didn’t even give a free-kick.
“I could hear the challenge on CJ Hamilton, which was a million per cent a penalty. He’s missed that. He missed two massive decisions.
“It’s obviously been compounded by Danny [Rose] now – all of my thoughts are with Danny and getting him the right care.
“I’m not sure what it is, but some of the players were horrified – he might have lost some teeth and it could be a broken jaw.
“There was nothing sinister with the challenge – he got caught in between two players and took both impacts. It’s just been a horrible afternoon – one that we have to quickly put behind us.
“Danny is with the right people, and we just have to make sure that he’s fit to travel home. Whatever we need to do, we’ll move him behind that – the medical team are the experts and he’s in the right hands.
“I can’t really speculate or give any more detail, but when you see that on the football pitch, it didn’t look good.
"There was nothing sinister with the challenge – he [Rose] got caught in between two players and took both impacts. It’s just been a horrible afternoon – one that we have to quickly put behind us."
“It’s [been] a completely horrible afternoon and one that I soon want to forget. I want to get on with what we’re trying to do next week.”
Following the slender loss, David Flitcroft called for his charges to be braver in possession.
“It was a good chance [for Nicky Ajose] – it was a really good move. But we only put three or four of them together in the first-half.
“We had to be more brave and more courageous. There’s a bravery and courage that I’m trying to get into the players, but for some reason we just didn’t do it enough.
“We didn’t have enough bravery getting on the ball and making things happen. It’s been a really disappointing day – a horrible day – and one I certainly won’t remember.
“We’ll get the boys back up to Mansfield and get working again. We’ll not have to come to a pitch like this again this season.
“I said [in the dressing room], this is what it is, and this is what we’re going to do Monday. We have a massive game next week.
“Our game is based on, when we are in their half, we try and get it down. Make courageous angles, get on that ball. It’s a mindset that I’ve tried to develop at the football club.
“It doesn’t matter where, what the conditions are, what’s going on. Newport do it well to take you out of your fluidity.”
The Stags’ chief says that there will be ‘competition’ in this week’s training sessions, to see which of his players will be in the starting lineup for next week’s huge Nottinghamshire derby away to Notts County.
“When you get a pitch like this, you need to have a good referee. The ball is bobbling up – you need a top, top referee on these games.
“One thing that was on reflection in the dressing room is that they [players] don’t like getting beat. It’s not a lack of care today, we just didn’t work it out.
“Newport[‘s players] were playing for a place against Man City today, and I told the players before the game that, you’re playing for a chance to play against Notts County next week.
“Our game is as big as theirs, for me. Now, there’s big competition this week, and we’ll see who’s up for that fight this week to go into a massive game.”
iFollow Stags subscribers can watch the manager’s interview in full by logging into mansfieldtown.net/ifollow later today.
