Venue:
Field Mill
att:  3859  away fans:  255
Extra info
Mansfield
2
  Larkin 16, 48
Roberts scores on debut but an old boy has the last word.
First defeat but it's not the end of the world.
Harriers
1
  Roberts 1
  harriers-online match report
Saturday 21st August 2004 
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Harriers lose first game


The Harriers scored their quickest ever League goal today when emergency signing Stuart Roberts lobbed the Mansfield keeper in only the 38th second of this game at Field Mill.  Roberts, who trialled in a mid week reserve game, was quickly rushed into the starting line-up after the realisation that we only had 15 fit first team players for the game.

He took the place of the suspended Simon Brown and Jesper Christiansen replaced Youssou Diop after he failed to make the start with a calf injury.  Also out was defender Chris McHale along with Abdou Sall, Iyseden Christie and Reuben Hazell.  These three have yet to play this season though.

Even though we had the more positive start we couldn't hold onto it and 15 minutes later it was the former Harriers loanee Colin Larkin that equalised for the Stags.  With the Reds defence standing rooted to the spot Larkin raced onto a through ball from O'Neil to fire the ball between John Danbys' legs for the first of his brace.

Why, when he was at Aggborough, couldn't he do it then?

The closest we came to regaining the lead after that was from Micky Mellon.  Freddy Advice pulled the ball back to him but his shot from the edge of the penalty area went the wrong side of the post.

Mansfield had their chance to score from another former Harrier when Adam Murray, spit!, forced Danby to drop the ball after a powerful 25yard shot.  The ball fell kindly for Derek Asamoah but Danby was quicker to react and smothered the ball just in time.

We went close again just seconds from the end of the first period but Ian Fosters shot, after being played in perfectly by Jesper, was fired straight at the Mansfield keeper.


HT. 1 - 1

This half started with another quick goal, not as fast as ours but almost.

It was Larkin again that did the damage when he capitalised on a poor free kick from the normally dependable Adi Viveash.  His free kick went straight to Mansfields keeper, Pilkington, who kicked it straight back upfield for Larkin, in an offside position, to volley it over Danby for the winning goal.

Adam Murray came close again just after when his shot was deflected but John Danby got to it just in time to push it around the post for a fruitless corner.

We had a good shout for a penalty turned down when Freddy Advice stormed into the area but was blatantly tripped by Baptiste.  The referee, Boyeson, turned down the calls for a penalty and just waved play on.

The game was starting to turn nasty now and a flurry of bad tackles from both sides were punished with a series of yellow cards.  One was given to Ian Foster after he became involved in a fracas with Murray and, after his reaction which warranted a sending off, Jan decided to take him off to replace him with Scott Rickards.

Mansfield were now in the ascendancy and looked in complete control.  Asamoah, who had a quiet first half, was now coming into prominence and could have scored on more than one occassion.  Another ex Red, Neil Mackenzie, came close to adding the third goal but again Danby was equal to it.

With only Christiansen up front we had no chance of getting back into the game and eventually the whistle blew on our first defeat of the season.  It had to come but Jan Molby really does need to look at getting a bit more fire power in.


FT. 2 - 1

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Mansfield  subs   cards      Harriers  subs   cards 
Pilkington     Danby  
McNiven     Jenkins  
Buxton   Burton  
Artell     Hatswell  
O'Neill     Viveash  
Curtis     Advice  
Baptiste     Foster
Mackenzie     Mellon
Asamoah     Christiansen
Murray   Keates  
Larkin     Roberts  
SUBS:       SUBS:    
Neil     Lewis  
Day     Appleby  
Tate     Gleeson  
Corden     Russell  
Williamson     Rickards  

REFEREE:
Mr C Boyeson
East Yorkshire

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