Wednesday 5 September 2012

AFC Mansfield 9 v Sherwood Colliery 0 - CMFL North

Wednesday 5th September 2012
at 'The Clod', AKA Forest Town Stadium
Central Midlands League North
AFC Mansfield (6) 9
Dean Rick 2, 5, 86
Carl Haslam 16, 35, 53
Mark Carter 23, 42
Joe Meehan 46
Sherwood Colliery (0) 0
Admission £3, Programme £1.50, Attendance 340 ish
AFC Mansfield:1. Sheppard 2. Armstrong 3. McLane 4. Pride 5. McGurk(C) 6. Naylor 7. Meehan 8. Chambers 9. Rick 10. Haslam 11. Carter
Subs - 12. Buxton 14. Short 15. Tighe 16. Bowler 17. Cox
Sherwood Colliery:
1. Rice 2. R. Whitmore 3. Bell 4. Smedley 5. Hhodgkinson (Kirkland 78) 6. Jordan 7. Short (A. Sipson 60) 8. Samo-Samo 9. J. Whitmore 10. Thorpe (Homer 65) 11. Wood
Unused Sub - S. Sipson
Hmm, the question is: which team will finish as runners up in the CMFL North this season?
The correct answer is, of course, AFC Mansfield, who'll come second to Harworth Colliery ;-)
But joking aside ... thankfully for Sherwood Colliery, the Bulls started taking it easy after going 8-0 up after just 53 minutes and seemed to be practising keeping possession at a pedestrian pace for most of the time, from then on in.
They have quality players, throughout the team, in all departments.
The Carter, Haslam and Rick front line that the home side kicked off with, would make mincemeat of most Baris NCEL defences, never mind Central Midlands League opposition.
And I dare say, if this trilogy of players remains at the club, they'll be able to prove that theory next season.
The floodlights failed as the captains shook hands prior to the scheduled kick off, but the game finally got going around 8pm.
By half time, with the home side already six goals to the good, Sherwood must've been praying for another, far more serious power cut.
Nothing else was going to save them now.
An impressive 340+ spectators were in attendance at Forest Town tonight, many of whom watch both Mansfield Town and the new team on the block.
The atmosphere on the side of the ground where most of the crowd were watching from was pleasant enough, sitting amongst the local merry makers (the bar takings in the Welfare must have been sky high tonight).
I did hear somebody moaning about people having a few beers.
But why!?
Surely, there's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself and watching football at the same time. Is there?
And that seems to be the kind of vibe that AFC Mansfield are looking to generate.
One of the Sherwood subs was taking pictures of the largest crowd he's ever likely to play in front of on his mobile phone, which kind of demonstrates the gulf between the potential size of both clubs.
Obviously there isn't anything else I can say about the game itself really, except for, hard as it might be to believe, James Rice, who played in goal for the visitors, didn't actually have a bad game.
But the scoreline speaks for itself.
AFC Mansfield, quite simply, were far too strong for their visitors from Mansfield Woodhouse to handle.
But Sherwood are not the first team to be on the end of an emphatic drubbing by the Bulls this season and I doubt if they'll be the last.
Good luck to Andy, Darren and Steve, with what they are trying to achieve at Forest Town with AFC Mansfield
And for the record, respect is due to these three guys, in no small measure, for the way they have conducted themselves, keeping their own counsel and not going public about why they left Field Mill during the summer ... and in particular for not going down the road of bad mouthing anybody.
Rule of thumb: True Stags fans close ranks and keep schtum ;-) WAMAW!?
Hopefully, I'll see all three of them again at a few AFC Mansfield and Mansfield Town games soon.
Below, an extract from tonight's programme, it made me smile anyway.
I'm looking forward to a return trip to Forest Town on September 22nd, with Harworth Colliery.

At this moment in time google blogger's 'add hyperlink' facility is down, so for more views on tonight's game, check out Malc n' Kev's local football blog, 'ON THE ROAD 2012-13, by clicking on the following lengthy URL: http://ontheroad2012-2013.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/afc-mansfield-9-0-sherwood-colliery.html