Mansfield v Bristol Rovers, Field Mill. October 17th 2015

Mansfield 1 Bristol Rovers 2

Since becoming a Dad two years ago, opportunities for away trips have been few and far between. Hence the giddy excitement when i woke up on my birthday to be given a pair of tickets from my wife to watch Rovers at Mansfield that afternoon!

An hour later, with the littlun at his grandparents, we were on the M5 heading north.

Happy Birthday

A nice service station coffee and the Warm up on Talksport insured the 3 hour journey went by in a flash. After checking in to our hotel, we went in search of food and drink and found the Brown Cow. A lovely pub. Not only was there a beer festival on with drops of fine ale a plenty, they were also selling stone fired pizzas out of a land rover in the car park.

Fed and watered it was on wards to the ground. Field Mill is situated on the edge of Mansfield, a sign as you enter proclaims that is the oldest ground in the football league. We took our seats in the north stand with plenty of time to familiarise ourselves with the surroundings. To our right was the imposing Ian Grieves stand. A two teared affair running the length of the pitch with offices half way up, an impressive stand at league 2 level.

The Ian Grieves Stand

The away end behind the goal that we were in, and the one opposite, looked pretty similar, single tierd all seaters with no supporting pillars, quite steep and offering good views of the pitch. Whilst these 3 stands have all been built in the last 15 years or so, the Bishop Street side to our left was clearly of a much earlier vintage. With the dug outs in front, it had a central seated stand, entirely boarded up with advertising hoardings with uncovered terracing either side. It is now not used and gives the ground a strange atmosphere. No doubt plans are afoot to replace it. I couldn't help thinking that a lick of paint and a few health and safety adjustments could see it reopened and add to the character of the place no end.

The closed for business Bishop Street Side

With 20 odd mins to go before kick off, I settled  back in my chair and flicked through the programme as the Rovers players warmed up in front of us. Recent history insured todays game had a bit of extra spice to it, the last time the teams met, on the last day of the 2013/14 season, a 1-0 Mansfield win at the Memorial Stadium saw Bristol Rovers relegated out of the football league for the first time in their history. Rovers only needed a draw to guarantee survival that day, to add insult to injury Mansfield forgot their kit and ended up winning the match whilst playing in Rovers away shirts.

Looking at the programme, it was good to see that the Stags had ex Rovers Loanee Reggie Lamb amongst their ranks, as well as ex premier league players, Nicky Hunt and Brian Jensen in goal. Ex Rovers keeper, Scott Shearer was also on the bench.

Whilst I was taking this all in suddenly there was a sharp intake of breath from those around me as well as a wooshing noise and something flashing by out the corner of my eye. By the time I looked up this was followed by a sickening noise of ball on face. The victim was on our row, three seats to my right, and as would later be revealed, an older bloke called Ron. It wasn't just the noise that signalled this was a nasty one, the flailing arms of Ron as he recoiled from the blow had everyone near by worried. Blood was soon flowing freely from his nose as people gathered round to help. One helpful young man shoved a phone in his face seemingly trying to film the whole unhappy incident. Suddenly Rovers Matty Taylor was in the stand amongst us, looking shaken, putting an arm round him and apologising for hitting the wayward shot over the bar.

Things calmed down, though Ron's nose wouldn't stop bleeding, just before kick off he was helped out the stand by a steward for some much needed treatment.

Would the match live up to the drama of the pre match warm up?

The early signs were promising. Rovers were quick out the blocks and soon took the lead after Jermain Easter smashed in a Daniel Leadbitter nod down. Mansfield looked pretty decent but Rovers were matching them and just before half time had a golden opportunity to double their lead. Easter raced on to a through ball and then from where we were sitting, admittedly the other end of the pitch, seemed to blatantly dive in search of a penalty. The Mansfield players were up in arms and seconds later, so were Rovers fans as Easter was shown a straight red for apparently raising his hands to a Mansfield defender. The half time whistle blew.

Things had started so brightly, but as I trudged off for a cup of tea, stepping over Ron's drying blood on the way, the prospect of holding on to this lead with ten men seemed unlikely.

As the second half got under way it was clear the two teams were well up for it, tackles were flying in and players were squaring up to each other at every opportunity. Even Ron was up for more as he made a welcome return to his seat with a comedy bandage patch on his nose .

On the hour mark, tension bolied over and this time Mansfield had a man sent off, following a 20 man brawl in which Tom Lockyer was flung to the ground. With 10 men a piece, Rovers began to look for a goal themselves and a few minutes later, all action hero Stuart Sinclair looked to be racing through on goal before he was felled by the already booked Nicky Hunt. Hunt saw red, and having been a man down, Rovers now found them selves a man up with a one goal lead and only 13 minutes left to play to secure victory.
Disaster stuck however when Mansfield equalised through a long and low drive from Tafozilli. The home fans and players went wild and it looked like the momentum had swing firmly back towards the home team.

With all the fights, injuries, sendings off and substitutions it wasn't a great surprise went the board went up with a mammoth 8 minutes of additional time. Rovers huffed and puffed, attacking the goal in front of all us away fans but it wasn't until deep in to the last of the 8 minutes when a chance came along.

Ollie Clarke picked up the ball in the centre circle and played a long diagonal ball toward the corner flag, Rovers right back James Clarke chased it hard and just managed to reach it before it went out safely for a goal kick. Meeting it on the volley, he brilliantly managed to hit a dipping cross in to the box and out of reach of Jensen in goal. Who was there to meet it but Roy's assailant himself, Matty Taylor to nod in neatly from a tight angle. Que scenes in the away end. Taylor celebrated by pointing towards his victim and tapping his nose 'That ones for you'.

Full time.

Hard to beat that feeling. When you've won away right at the death. We left Field Mill and headed back to the Brown Cow. I found the below photo on the Rovers twitter feed later that night, full marks to the club and Taylor for looking after Ron, and full marks for Ron for coming back for the second half!

Ron gets the last laugh