All the pre-match build up for this game focused on the announcement during the week that Salisbury were asking their supporters to raise £100,000 to avoid the club having to make budget cuts. The chairman took the pitch before the game to stress that the club wasn’t in financial crisis yet but they wanted to do something to prevent future problems.
As the weather was warm and sunny, decided to watch the game from the side of the main stand rather than my usual vantage point behind the goal. Salisbury took the lead after 11 minutes, Sandell striking a low shot after a cross from Feeney found Herring on the back post. He headed it back for Sandell to score from six yards.
Mansfield had a lot of possession but were unable to make the most of some good approach play. Bittner in the Salisbury goal lead a charmed life, especially when coming out for corners and missing the ball – on both occasions a Mansfield player was unable to get to the ball in time to create a scoring chance.
In the second half Mansfield changed their formation to 4-3-3 and put more pressure on the Salisbury backline, especially down the left side. The equaliser came on 57 minutes when Scott Bartlett put in a strong challenge only to see the ball spin into the net out of Bittner’s reach. From my view point the ball almost seemed to be travelling in slow motion towards the goal.
Mansfield forced a corner a minute later which was cleared to Liam Feeney. He used his pace to sprint down the field and having outpaced his team mates, took the ball around Silk and hit an unstoppable shot past the Mansfield keeper from the edge of the area to put Salisbury 2.1 up
The goals didn’t stop there – four minutes later Mansfield took the ball down the left side and ex-league journeyman Mark Stallard was on hand to sweep the ball in from close range for the equaliser. Seven minutes later it was 3.2 to Mansfield – a Mansfield player controlled a through ball and slipped a pass into the box to a team mate who hit a low shot past Bittner.
Salisbury put Matthews and Griffin on to try and get back in the game. Griffin had the best chance to equalise, heading wide when he should have got it at least on target. An exciting second half but sadly not the right result for the Whites.
No comments:
Post a Comment