Good to see Mansfield Town get back to winning ways

In my opinion, they deserved to give us a good performance and, more importantly, a result.

Thankfully they did, by getting a hard-fought victory against Forest Green, who at the time of writing have the best away record in the division.

The game was always to be tough for both sides, with both teams having a similar playing style.

The Stags’ performance was was much more positive, as we played some good football and created chances that we couldn’t convert in the first half. As the game progressed I felt as though we had a goal in us, as we tested keeper Ward on a couple of occasions. Having said that, Forest Green also threatened, when we got a bit complacent, giving the ball away to easily from some misplaced passes.

As a whole I think we did enough to win the game. We created more opportunities and were solid at the back. It felt as though whoeverscored the first goal would go on to win.

It was a tight game. I thought Willem Tomlinson put in a really good display alongside Bishop, as he got into tackles and played some good passes in his first start since signing from Blackburn Rovers.

The goal was scrappy. Many claim that it wasn’t Walker’s, instead coming off one of the Forest Green defenders. As Walker headed the ball, it looked as though it came off one of their players.

At the time of writing the goal has been awarded to Walker, taking his tally to 21 goals. It was just unfortunate that he let himself down by giving a crafty finger to the linesmen, which both officials saw and quite rightly meant he was given his marching orders.

It was a big win for us against another good footballing side, who will more than likely end up in the play-offs, come the end of the season. They certainly have improved since last season, aided by having Christian Doidge back in their ranks. From our point of view, it was good to get back to winning ways and hopefully it will be start of a winning run for us to try and cement our place within the top three.

The only downside to the win was Walker’s sending off — he should know better than to react. On the flip side of that, it gives Ajose a chance to show what he is capable of, having not started the previous games.

Having MacDonald and Sweeney coming back into the squad will be like two new signings. It is important we can have consistency, as we are heading into the business end of the season.

Onwards and upwards! COYS.