Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough has said that the handball decision to deny the Stags an equaliser with one of the final kicks of the game against Bristol Rovers on Saturday afternoon was a reflection of their recent luck as they fell to a 1-0 defeat at the One Call Stadium.
Rovers had taken the lead early in the second half when Luke McCormick tapped in a ball across goal from Isaac Hutchinson at the back post with the effort proving enough to secure a much-needed away win for Matt Taylor’s side.
In a game of limited quality, Mansfield did see two good opportunities fall to forward Will Evans in each half but the former Newport County man couldn’t convert.
However, most of the supporters in attendance thought that the Stags had earned themselves a point deep into added time when George Maris thumped the ball into the back of the net but the whistle had already been blown for handball after Ben Waine knocked the ball down with his arm.
Reflecting on the decision, Clough exclaimed post-match to club media: “We’ve had more than enough situtations today and I think we’re very, very unlucky with the last kick of the game.
“Ben said it hit his arm, certainly, but he can’t do anything about it. He’s about five yards away from Aaron Lewis when he rifles it back across but it just hits him and drops. One of those, sometimes you’ll get them, sometimes you won’t. It’s more a marker of how our luck is going at the moment that it just has maybe hit his arm. I don’t know if it has to be intentional or not these days and we’re denied an equaliser with the last kick. Summed up the day.”
There was some suggestion that there had been a foul in the build-up to Rovers’ goal 40-odd minutes earlier but Clough had no complaints, adding: “I think Lucas [Akins] might have been fouled on the halfway, I’ll have to have a look back at it, but from that point I think it was three very crisp, good passes.
“I don’t know if the lad was shooting or crossing for the final one but somebody’s followed it in and ended up tapping it in. That’s the quality that can hurt you at League One. That’s the standard that’s gone up this season and they only have to do it once or twice in a game and it’s enough to win the game.”
Mansfield, who went into the game sat in seventh place while also playing the joint-fewest games in League One with 13, had lost their previous outing 1-0 away at Wrexham a fortnight prior. However, in that match they were deemed bitterly unlucky to lose having been the better side for large spells of the contest.
Although they didn’t have an abundance of clear cut opportunities, the hosts had more chances in the game than their visitors with 12 shots to Rovers’ nine while also keeping 57 per cent of possession.
The Stags had also been without top scorer Lee Gregory who was ruled out with a knee problem and Clough believes that his side are currently going through an unlucky spell while also needing more from his other forwards.
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“Similar to Wrexham,” the Mansfield manager declared when reflecting on his team’s display. “Overall performance, not too much wrong with it. We’ve created chances, situations all throughout the game and one bit of quality as ended up with us losing the game.
“We have to do more to get a goal. Our strikers have to do more and everybody in the final third but all of our play leading up to that point has been very good indeed. I thought we dominated the game for large periods, just that somebody to get us that goal or make a goal.
“I think we’ve played well again. I think it’s just an even balancing up. We played Shrewsbury and Cambridge here a couple of months ago and they were very tight games and they both came and played well here. We weren’t fortunate to get the results but things went our way. They haven’t gone our way certainly in the last two games but we’re going to keep approaching it and hopefully our strikers will find the net sooner rather than later.
“However, you’re missing your leading goal scorer. That’s going to be a hinderance so we need somebody else to step up to make us a goal.
“Brilliant, so much of the play today. A very compotent, experienced League One side. They’ll keep the ball at times. [Christy] Pymy’s not had a shot [to save] apart from picking the ball out of the net. But we keep going and we’ll try and get something more in the final third.”