AFC
Mansfield started this game without influential captain Matt Draper and
star striker Carl Haslam in this top of the table clash.Clay Cross
started the game very brightly and AFC looked to be on the end of a
mauling with the size of the Clay Cross side.Things got worse for AFC as
keeper Dale Shepherd had to be taken off through injury and they feared
the worst.Ed Eley entered the fray and this meant Mansfield now had
three players on the pitch that had not started for AFC before with
Keiren Watson and Jason Edwards making their debut.Things did get worse
as Clay Cross took a 1-0 lead with a deserved opener.The hosts could
have gone further ahead from a free-kick but a fine save from Ed Eley
saw the ball tipped over the bar.
However Mansfield were given
a lifeline when they were
awarded a penalty to draw level.Mark Carter was the penalty taker and
with a delay on the spot kick he became nervous and the keeper made a
good save.Mark Carter turned from villain to hero later when he scored
the equaliser for AFC and the sides went in level at half time.
AFC
Mansfield came out with a different approach second half and debutant
Keiren Watson soon started to show his qualities skinning the Clay Cross
defence and was unlucky on a couple of occasions.Clay Cross however did
go into a 2-1 lead and it looked as if AFC would have to settle for a
narrow defeat at the hands of their nearest competitors.
This
is when Clay became Cross.AFC started to push more men forward and show
why they are top of the league and they struggled to keep any
control.Clay Cross had a man sent-off for a second offence and they
began to lose the plot.It became like the Alomo and it was only a matter
of time before AFC got a deserved equaliser
through a Dean Rick goal which he put in with his manhood on the
goal-line from a tight cross.
Things then became crazy in the
final ten minutes as leading scorer Rocky White for Clay Cross was sent
of for basically argueing with the ref and anyone around him and left
the field on a red card.A further Clay Cross player was sent off for a
second lunge at an AFC player as they struggled to control the
onslaught.In the middle of this the Clay Cross manager and a sub were
removed from the dugout for abusing the linesman as Clay became Crosser.
AFC
Mansfield then threw caution to the wind and it looked like they would
get a winner as chance after chance fell their way.Keiren Watson turned
his man again and just missed the far post and AFC had a dubious claim
of handball on the line in a later attack.
Clay Cross did however manage
to hang on for the point and AFC remain top of the table.
This game had everything apart form a
winning goal and the crowd will have gone home happy with the entertainment value.
THE BULLS MARCH ON !
