'Quite annoyed': Mansfield Town's Jon Russell delivers verdict on his disallowed goal against Peterborough
The Mansfield Town midfielder had a goal ruled out for offside in their latest 2-1 defeat to Peterborough United.
Jon Russell came close to scoring on more than one occasion on Saturday as he posed a significant threat to the Posh defence.
The midfielder came close to putting Stags in front just two minutes into the match but his effort was cleared off the line. He later had another chance denied when goalkeeper Alex Bass saved his shot from inside the box.
The ball did eventually end up in the back of the net for Russell but it was chalked off after being deemed offside.
The 25-year-old made his run forward and slid to meet a long ball from the left after Stags broke on the counter-attack but the linesman’s flag was quickly raised.
Russell protested the decision at the time and he remains confident he did not stray offside even after watching the replay back.
“I’ve watched it back a few times and I’m not offside, I don’t think I am at all. If it is, it’s going to be a little toe,” he said during Stags’ midweek press conference.
“I was quite annoyed by that because I watched the run and I watched the player next to me and I’m sure I’m in line or even behind him. But I was probably the linesman’s side so he can get more of a view.
“It’s frustrating that it didn’t count but then we still scored after that.”
Russell’s goal would have been a quick equaliser for Stags after Posh went ahead through Ben Woods but Michael Smith did level the score-line just minutes later in the second half.
Unfortunately for Mansfield, Smith’s goal wasn’t enough to salvage a point and they were ultimately forced to accept defeat when Harry Leonard poked home the winner for Peterborough in injury time.
“To concede in the last two minutes of added time, it broke our hearts,” Russell reflected. “But we know there are some things we need to fix and hopefully stop that happening again.”
Mansfield Town will look to redeem their defeat when they host Luton Town at the One Call Stadium on Sunday.