Oates So Simple
Mansfield Town 3-0 Macclesfield (FA Cup Round One)
Straight outta Compton.. Or Quorn at least (which is nothing like Compton I’m told), it seems no sooner has the Saturday morning mist lifted am I out (after writing last nights report) again to another game, this time it’s the FA Cup and Mansfield are big dogs, against minnows Macclesfield hoping for yet another giant kill.
I was supposed to be at Hednesford v Morecambe which I was looking forward to, but the bosses switched me from Keys Park to Field Mill and I’m not too disappointed, this will be a good FA Cup game between League One and National North opponents, who after all aren’t that much ‘smaller’ than the side they are playing today.
We all know what Macclesfield did last season. I was actually at Bramall Lane as Mansfield beat Sheffield United in another impressive cup upset, so both teams have credentials, today will be an interesting outcome.
I covered Macs replay beating of Anstey in the last round but haven’t seen much of Mansfield this year, impressively stubborn in League One they drew 0-0 with Wigan midweek after losing their only game in eight against Notts County. Manager Nigel Clough is also celebrating six long years with the Stags.
Not far for me is the distance from Nottingham to Mansfield, but through traffic it takes almost an hour to do 20 miles, I pass the grounds of Forest and County and head through Mapperley and Arnold before getting on the Mansfield Road, a straight stretch north through Ravenshead and Berry Hill before pulling off down Sheepbridge Lane, parking by Quarry Lane on an industrial estate which is busy today, so I pull into a trailer park where a lad sits in orange hi-vis. “Are you here for the football or boxing he says”.
The Venue
Apparently there’s some white collar stuff going off behind the back of the bike sheds but regardless of sporting preference I’m still charged £9 for the trouble, although it provides me a quick exit out and money is time, time is money and all that.
Just a five-minute walk down the quiet lane before the One Call Stadium appears serene high up on the left, grey steel backed stands with blue cantilevers, gates not yet open so I have a little rummage in the little club shop, nothing more than a disappointing Portakabin with a couple of replica shirts (home and away) and some cheap polos on a rack. I do spot a poster which says ‘play like Liam Roberts’ above a few boxed pairs of goalkeeper gloves. I used to give Liam a lift when he played for Rainworth when on loan as a youngster from Walsall.
“The doors are now open” blasts over the tannoy as I join a few sat outside waiting to begin my entrance up to the upper tier of the Ian Greaves Stand. Greaves the famous Freight Rover Trophy winning manager of Mansfield Town for their proudest moment at Wembley in 1987 when they beat Bristol City on penalties.
It could all do with a lick of paint, it feels a bit warn and dirty, whilst having a wee I’m thinking the white walls in the urinals could at least be painted yellow and blue, but the concourse is very much yellow and blue, a couple of kiosks serving crusty old pies and Yorkshire tea, I’m a sucker for a brew and I’m starving so cave in, the tea is good, the pie I shouldn’t have bothered with.
Outside you get a fabulous view of not just the playing surface but the whole of Mansfield below, it’s a panoramic picture of the town and I’m taking it all in as a train goes by over a viaduct into Mansfield Station.
The stadium itself is one of the oldest in the country, but modernised at the turn of the Millennium, either side of the goals has smart single tiered stands, the end to my left has a fair scattering of Macclesfield fans making some noise, the one to my right empty, the small stand opposite was long condemned but that had seats re-installed last season, not needed today with just 4,000 in attendance.
The Game
With two out of three closed the build up of fans in this stand is leaving me hemmed in from my spot on the back row so I move to the wing where there’s plenty of space, much quieter as I sit a few rows up from a lot of the players families where wives hold babies in funky looking slings and designer coats.
It’s a fair start with Macclesfield full of endeavour, but Mansfield look more than up for it today, Nigel Clough has them well drilled, their average age must be near on 30, big physical men, solid, no frills, but who all know their jobs in hand.
Macclesfield are neat, George Wilson is getting on the ball in midfield and knocking it about, he's even had an audacious shot from the half way line that goes inches over the bar, Ustabasi out left is looking a threat on the counter, as is the bald headed Josh Kay on the right, every now and again they swap sides to cause their opponents a little unrest.
One lad not supposed to be in the team today is Rhys Oates, he wasn’t named initially but Louis Reed pulled something in the warm up, I only noticed Oates when he headed an attempt wide as I spotted the number 18 on his back, but on 21 minutes it’s he who makes the difference, when a ball played to him has him sprinting past defenders who tread water in their wake.
“You won’t catch him” I say aloud as Oates who is one of the quickest in League One runs away from Tom Wilson and cuts back inside the box, he crosses low to the impressive youngster Nathan Moriah-Welsh who arrives late from his right wing back position to slide home the games first.
It's got the away fans irate who start to sing “Mansfield’s a shithole, I want to go home” and “You’re just a town full of inbreds” but it’s the home side who get their peckers up in the sudden surge of noise, veteran forward Michael Smith has been proving a handful, he pokes home from a Stephen McLaughlin cross but is adjudged probably correctly, to have been offside.
The Score
Macclesfield don’t give up though, they try and play which is testament to how John Rooney has them well drilled, they test the palms of Liam Roberts on a couple of occasions but the goalkeeper ensures he keeps the Stags lead in tact all be it slender at the break.
It’s fine margins as I think to myself Macclesfield could easily nick something in the second half, but in fairness to Mansfield they are continued to be strong, organised, well set for anything the Silkmen try, and in the end the difference is that one bit of quality they have in attack.
It’s been a tough afternoon for Macs Danny Elliott as their lone frontman, everything he’s tried to do hasn’t come off, but the opposition forwards are big bullying types and they show their league credentials, Michael Smith presses his opponent into gifting him the ball, before a wonderful low pass sets Oates away again, “you won’t catch him” is the order of the day, as Rhys Oates rounds the keeper to make it two.
That goal on 73 pretty match wraps things up, by now the away side are visibly tiring as both teams make a number of subs, late on Jordan Bowery who started the game at centre half, is now playing up front, he’s sent through one-v-one and calmly rounds things off, a good afternoons work for Mansfield but they were made to work, by a decent outfit who remember are four divisions below.
The Stars
It feels like a team that would give Wythenshawe Vets a good game, nine of the clubs starting eleven are 28 and above, the other two 26 and 24, the youngest, Nathan Moriah-Welsh actually really impressed me out right, honest, willing, but with quality, he’s a good solid ‘young’ speedster with athleticism, good energy.
The star of the day was no doubt Rhys Oates who at 31 was also the quickest player on show, he’s stocky and strong as well as speedy which is often a recipe for a good mix. Long loved by Nigel Clough and you can see why.
His side kick Michael Smith up front is a throwback forward, 35-years-old physically up for the battle with defenders, he didn’t give the centre backs a minute, happy to wrestle his way towards goal, whilst in defence, or in attack, Jordan Bowery has been a brilliant servant to the Stags, over the years. As has Stephen McLaughlin who seems to have been around forever.
As for Macclesfield, whilst they were largely beaten by the bigger, better, bulkier, team, they had players who did themselves proud and shown that they have a few that can compete at Football League level, for me George Wilson didn’t look out of depth, passing well he controlled the away sides midfield with a cool tempo, whilst Ammar Dyer who was the youngest player in either teams starting eleven at 23, did well at right back, plenty of technique and talent, ever willing to get forward with speed and good stamina.
The Verdict
When asked who Mansfield would like in round two, Nigel Clough stated ‘anybody at home’. He knows whoever the Stags get, it will be a tricky testing tie, so home advantage is all important if they are to reach the all exciting third round draw.
Macclesfield will hold their heads up high after a performance which they should be proud of, you can see the difference between the two was not necessarily talent, but sheer brute force and physique, along with a bit old football league nouse, a good old-fashioned team is Mansfield, a good old fashioned town, even if the Mac fans will says it’s full of inbreds.
The Teams
Mansfield Town: Liam Roberts, Ryan Sweeney, Frazer Blake-Tracey, Jordan Bowery, Nathan Moriah-Welsh, Regan Hendry (Oliver Taylor 87), Jonny Russell, George Maris (Elliott Hewitt 76), Stephen McLaughlin (Owen Dodgson 87), Rhys Oates (Kyle Knoyle 83), Michael Smith (Tyler Roberts 83).
Macclesfield: Christian Dibble, Ammar Dyer, Tom Wilson, Paul Dawson (Sam Heathcote 56), Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Finley Shrimpton, George Wilson (Adan George 74), Josh Kay (Theo Chapman 86), Jonathan Ustabasi, Luke Duffy, Danny Elliott.
3:00pm Kick Off. Saturday 7th November 2026, Field Mill, Mansfield (att 4,436).
Comments