Delight and surprise as Lucas Akins makes a quicker-than-expected return to the pitch for Mansfield Town after prison release
Mansfield Town manager Nigel Clough was delighted to get Lucas Akins quickly back onto the pitch in tonight's home Vertu EFL Trophy clash with Newcastle United U21s.
A late equaliser for Newcastle forced a 2-2 draw and the Magpies then took the extra point with a 5-3 penalty shootout win.
But most talk surrounded the surprise return of Akins, who has just been released from prison, having served six months of a 14 month prison sentence for causing death by careless or inconsiderate driving.
That followed an accident in March 2022 when Akins' car hit cyclist Adrian Daniel which led to his death 10 days later in hospital.
Akins had been keeping as fit as possible in prison and Clough said yesterday that it would be up to the player when he felt ready to start a game.
But Akins was then named in tonight's starting line-up and Clough said: “I spoke to Lucas and it was his decision as much as anything.
“I said if you feel ready there is a game here tonight for you and he said yes, I am ready, so that is why we put him in.
“He's had two or three training sessions and the sooner we got him on the pitch the better.
“It is out of the way now. He has had 60-odd minutes and he will be better for it from this point on.
“He looked a bit rusty exactly as we expected he would, but fitness wise he is not too bad.
“He won't be involved at the weekend and he will build up in the next few weeks.
“I think we have a reserve game against Chesterfield next Tuesday at the training ground so he will feature in that.”
Cathal Heffernan put the Newcastle youngsters in front after just four minutes from a corner only to see Max Dickov finally level on 24 minutes as Stags dominated.
When Academy product Finn Flanagan headed the home side in front on 68 minutes it seemed they were heading for all three points.
But a deflected finish by Charlie McArthur off the leg of Ollie Taylor in added time forced penalties and the Magpies' success in the shootout, after Dom Dwyer blazed one over, left Mansfield bottom of the group and hopes of progress dangling by a thread.
“I was disappointed with the two goals, to concede so early and then so late. It was the timings as much as anything,” said Clough.
“It was generally a good performance between those points and we created more than enough chances in the first half to be two or three ahead.
“We should not be conceding from a corner in the first few minutes against an U21 side either. But there was a lot of good stuff after that, especially first half.
“You can't do much about a penalty shootout – it's a toss up once it goes to that and there were a lot of good penalties, just Dom missing the one which ultimately cost us.”
On Flanagan, he added: “Finn started the move for the first goal as well.
“He is not known for his heading ability for his goal, but he was put in there for set plays and got on the end of one. He played well tonight.”
Stags now prepare for Saturday's trip to Luton Town and look unlikely to welcome anyone else back from their injury list.
“Regan Hendry is just back in training but I can't see anyone back for Saturday and I don't see too many changes from the previous squad,” said Clough.