Mansfield Town 1 – 0 Rotherham United
Oshilaja (27)
After the high of our home win last week the Millers fans went away from the One Call Stadium disgruntled, annoyed and disillusioned after their teams display this afternoon.
The first ten minutes of the game were pretty even with free-kicks for both sides until nine minutes when Dillon Phillips had to be on his toes to get to a deflected shot from the hosts. The first real chance of the game came on twelve minutes when a cross from Joe Powell was cleared but only as far a Mallik Wilks who saw his volleyed shot go behind for a goal kick. A handful of corners for the Millers saw Powell find Jonson Clarke-Harris with one of them but his shot was blocked while another one saw Christy Pym dither over but the ball going wide before one found Zak Jules who saw the ball go inches past the upright. Then, much against the run of play, the Stags won a free-kick which Keanu Baccus sent into the area finding the head of Aaron Lewis who sent the ball forward finding Millers forward Sam Nombe who flicked the ball finding Deji Oshilaja sliding it past Phillips to put the hosts in front on twenty-seven minutes. Minutes later Nombe tried to make amends for his error with a curling effort which left Pym stood watching as the ball went inches over the crossbar. Nombe had another chance when a through ball from Powell found his head but Pym got to it although he made a bit of a meal of doing so. There were more free-kicks for the Millers and as half-time approached Powell found the head of Hakeem Odoffin who saw the ball go just past the left-hand corner of the goal.
No changes for either team at half-time saw the Millers start the second-half with a number of free-kicks although it was Dillon Phillips who had to be aware when a loose pass found Will Evans who found himself one-on-one with Phillips the Millers’ ‘keeper coming off the best saving his shot. The hosts were in full flow and Aaron Lewis sent a ball in for Keanu Baccus who saw his shot blocked with another chance for Baccus was put out for a corner by James Reece. On fifty-six minutes Phillips did well to deny Lewis and a minute later the same player tried his luck from distance the ball going wide. The first booking of the afternoon went to Aaron Lewis for a poor challenge on Joe Rafferty and the Millers made a triple change on the hour mark fetching on Jack Holmes, Shaun McWilliams and Jamie McCart for Andre Green, Liam Kelly and Joe Rafferty who had been injured in the foul that led to the yellow card. Mansfield also made a change With George Maris making way for Aden Flint. Mr Kennard-Kettle became rather whistle happy blowing every minute or so for free-kicks until the hosts made a second substitution fetching on Hiram Boateng for Aaron Lewis on sixty-seven minutes. More free-kicks gave the advantage to the Stags by slowing the game down before another change for the Millers saw Jordan Hugill replace Sam Nombe and the Millers made a rare foray up front winning a corner. Reece played it short to Joe Powell but his cross was, to be honest, poor. More changes for the hosts resulted in Stephen McLaughlin and Ben Waine coming on for Keanu Baccus and Will Evans while a last change for the visitors brought Ciaran McGuckin on the pitch with Mallik Wilks going the other way. As the board went up for a further four minutes Jonson Clarke-Harris won a free-kick in a good position which Powell took finding McCart who headed wide when it looked like it would have been easier to hit the target and in the dying seconds of the game the Millers won a corner which was sent in and instead of slamming towards goal McCart floated it in the air which was the last action of the game.
It was so frustrating sitting watching this game unfold. Both sides looked edgy but while Mansfield’s confidence grew the Millers appeared to go into a shell and started passing the ball back instead of working it forward to put on probably the worst second-half performance of the season.
ATTENDANCE – 8,401 with 1,492 Millers in the stands
REFEREE – Zac Kennard-Kettle
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