LOMAS ON STAGS: Fans the key as Stags win against the odds

When things have not gone well on the pitch, that has often ended in upset as fans become angry and abuse the team, who fail to then rise to the occasion – a vicious circle.

But when it does work, it really works and last night’s atmosphere in the 1-0 win against Yeovil Town at One Call Stadium was eventually the equal of and probably surpassed many far more important games down there.

By the noise at the end you would think Mansfield had achieved promotion or made a cup final rather than just winning three League Two points, albeit with 10 men.

Murray said he felt goosebumps in the second half as the home fans turned up the noise levels, and he wasn’t the only one.

Click HERE to read the match report

Click HERE to read boss Adam Murray’s thoughts

Click HERE to see a gallery of crowd pictures. Can you see yourself or anyone you know?

As a player, you couldn’t help growing a couple of inches taller or finding that extra ounce of energy with that backing as they battled against the odds.

The players did extraordinarily well to win the game and deserve most of the credit, but the supporters deserve a huge chunk too and, if they could repeat that noise most weeks, it would make a massive difference to where their club finished.

On the game itself, first and foremost, let’s make no mistake, Danny Rose deserved a red card in the modern day rules for his eighth minute challenge.

Anyone who jumps into a tackle like that is asking for trouble and there were no excuses.

It was early in the game, near the halfway line with no danger and simply a daft thing to do.

It left his Stags team mates in the mire and really up against it for 82 minutes of what was already a tough challenge against a Yeovil side that had begun the new season very well.

However, instead of dropping into a rearguard action for the rest of the night, to their credit the short-handed Stags made light of their deficit and dominated the match in magnificent style.

Chris Clements twice came close, Matt Green hooked a good chance over and Mitch Rose somehow headed over from eight yards.

At the other end Brian Jensen was mostly a spectator, comfortably equal to the two long range shots that came his way.

Seeing their side really having a go against the odds obviously touched a nerve with the home fans who clicked the volume up to 11.

It also helped to see their players giving every ounce of sweat, Mitch Rose raising the roof with two successive crunching 50-50 tackles won.

The roof finally blew off on 64 minutes when Green buried the winning goal from the penalty spot.

Mitch Rose was once again involved as he beat keeper Artur Krysiak to the ball after the keeper had parried a Green blast. As soon as Rose pipped him to the ball, Krysiak could not pull out and was always going to crash into him.

None of their players complained as the referee pointed to the spot and most in the stadium would have staked their mortgage that Green would bury his chance as he did.

Stags looked comfortable until near the end when sheer tiredness began to catch up with them and Yeovil piled on the pressure.

What we then had was heroic defending and wise changes as centre half George Taft took over from Green with five minutes to go and, in the depth of the five added minutes, big striker Darius Henderson shored things up further at the expense of fellow sub CJ Hamilton.

The final whistle brought that rush of adrenalin that few things in life can produce apart from illegal substances or a night in a hotel room with Little Mix.

It was, indeed, a night to remember.

The worry now is how much it will have taken out of the players with the season’s longest trip to Plymouth looming large this weekend.

By tomorrow morning, last night’s exertions will really start to kick in and the last thing you need then is a strength-sapping coach trip to the other end of the country.

Boss Murray will be well aware of this and, although his squad is small, he will doubtless be looking at how he may freshen things up at Plymouth and tweak his side accordingly.

Plymouth away does have ‘After the Lord Mayor’s Show’ written all over it and it will take a monumental effort to come away with anything.

Maybe the thought of Argyle’s fans and staff landing Adi Yussuf with that despicable five-game ban for urinating behind a stand last season can do the trick.

Murray could do worse than to pin that story on the dressing room wall before they go out to see if it will help his players rain on Plymouth’s parade!