“I thought we were the better side for the rest of the game.”

Views from Merthyr Imp following last night’s 1-1 draw against Mansfield Town in Sky Bet League Two: “A tremendous result. I would have settled for a point beforehand, so very happy.

My take on their goal was that it was a corner routine they’d not employed before so we weren’t prepared for it. Agreed, though, that O’Hara might have done better if he’d tried jumping for the ball.

After the first half ‘time-out’ I thought we were the better side for the rest of the game, and rather than Mansfield sitting back as Lee Hendrie kept saying, I thought we pushed them back.

Cian Bolger has got some criticism on here, but he won nearly everything in the air and I think he did pretty well overall. Some great play from Rowe, but perhaps an unsung hero in this match was Anderson.

Good, or at least interesting, to see that in the last 10 minutes or so we were pushing for a winner rather than keeping the ball in the corner to make sure of a single point.”

More views from the Match Thread:

Skip155: “Good game and a fair result. Only one team going to win that – we got stronger and stronger, either that or they faded. Maybe a combination of the two. Really happy with the point and 15 unbeaten sounds very good.”

Scotimp: “Fair result – Mansfield were the better team in the first half without really creating much. Gilks had nothing to save except for the goal – after such a lightning start, I feared a hard evening for him that never materialised.

Second half, we did well enough to earn a point. For some reason, Mansfield resorted to long hoofs down the middle, which Bolger and Bostwick will swallow every time. Did they sit back or did we push them back? I thought we sat five yards further up the pitch in the second half, so I prefer the latter.

Danny says we have a team that finds a way, and they showed that again tonight.”

The Imposter: “Very good point tonight in the circumstances. We were ‘still on the bus’ for the first 15-20 minutes, but got better after that and particularly in the second half after Pett came on. What I like about Cowley teams is their willingness to fight for the cause; they may not be playing well, but they do their damnedest to get. result.

Bolger very iffy first half, but got better second half. As people have said, his distribution at times is awful, but he is good in the air. Would still like to see James Wilson at the back though. Thought Toffolo had another good game and produced some excellent runs down the left. I have also seen on here, someone comment that it was Akinde’s best game of the season. As much as I want him to succeed, that’s three games in a row now where he just hasn’t done it for me, but at least redeemed himself from the spot. How many silly fouls did he give away tonight? Was better in the last 20.

Excellent support from the Imps faithful once more, they made plenty of noise tonight.”

"I thought we were the better side for the rest of the game.":https://t.co/DUmd4q5FAx#Mansfield #MTFC #ImpsAsOne

— Vital Lincoln City (@VitalLincoln) March 19, 2019

https://www.facebook.com/VitalLincolnCity/posts/2106382279398006

Mansfield Town				Lincoln City
Pearce 4'				Akinde 75' (pen)
Logan				Gilks
Preston				Eardley
Pearce				Bostwick
Sweeney				Bolger
Jones				Toffolo
Mellis			90+3'	Anderson
Bishop				O'Connor			66'
Benning				O'Hara
Grant			59'	Andrade
Hamilton				Rowe
Walker				Akinde			90+4'
Substitutes
MacDonald			59'	Vickers
Khan				Pett			66'
Smith				Frecklington
Tomlinson			90+3'	Rhead			90+4'
Ajose				Angol
Turner				Wilson
Smith				McCartan

Game Statistics
9	Goal attempts	9
4	On Target	4
11	Corners	8
12	Fouls	15
2	Yellow Cards	1
0	Red Cards	0
59	%	41