Arsenal clash ‘the reward’ for Mansfield Town and Stags fans, says Carolyn Radford
Mansfield Town come away from their Arsenal defeat with their heads held high, having made it a difficult afternoon for the 14-time champions.
The Premier League side progressed to the quarter-finals after being made to work for their 2-1 win at the One Call Stadium. A great piece of skill from Will Evans to score past Kepa Arrizabalaga cancelled out Noni Madueke’s opening goal, and Stags created other opportunities as fans held out hope for a phenomenal cupset result on home soil.
Nigel Clough’s side tested the Arsenal goalkeeper and matched the north London giants physically to keep them at bay, until a 66th minute goal from Eberechi Eze proved enough to see the Gunners into the next round.
Stags put in a shift to be proud of but Clough admitted the feeling among those in amber and blue was that they could have produced a result against the top flight heavyweights.
“We are extremely proud of the performance. The club generally I think but certainly the performance on the pitch and the players. But we’ve got that little nagging feeling in our stomach that we had an opportunity today. We could have nicked it,” Clough said. “Everything that we set out to do...make it uncomfortable for Arsenal, not sit back, all those sorts of things. The difference in the end was the finishing and the quality of the goals they put in.”
Arsenal’s visit to the One Call Stadium has been a huge occasion for Mansfield as a town, and Stags owners John and Carolyn Radford were delighted to see the FA Cup clash unfold after the club’s impressive run in the tournament.
"It’s such an amazing occasion for the town, for the community, for all of our supporters who spend lots of time on a Tuesday, freezing cold up and down the country. This is the reward, isn’t it?” Carolyn said in the build-up to the match-day action.
It wasn’t just the Mansfield Town faithful who were impressed by the Stags’ efforts in the FA Cup either. Arsenal legend Martin Keown was quizzed on how many trophies he thinks his old side will win this season, with the Gunners still competing in four tournaments as things stand. Arsenal are now into the FA Cup quarter-finals, the Champions League knockouts and the Carabao Cup final, while leading the Premier League title race by seven points. But Keown was focused on how Stags made it tricky for Mikel Arteta’s side, despite many expecting an easy win for the north Londoners.
"Do you know if you start talking about how many you’re going to win it’s going to sound arrogant,” the three-time Premier League winner said after Arsenal’s 2-1 win. “They’re in four competitions and they nearly went out today, it was that close. Mansfield gave them a real scare. It’s just game to game and it’s been expensive with the injuries, so the manager will have to lick their wounds a bit.”
Focus for Clough and his side now moves completely to their League One endeavours. Stags have a jam-packed schedule coming up before the season ends and there are big points to play for as they look to put as much daylight as possible between them and the bottom four.