Late Duffy penalty wins it for Stags

A late Rob Duffy penalty secured a 3-2 win against Rushden and Diamonds on Tuesday night. We had been dominated by an excellent Rushden team in the first half but we booked our ideas up after half time and turned the game around.

Rushden came into the match 11 games unbeaten and had secured a play off spot 3 days earlier. They lined up with former Stags Aaron O’Connor and Jefferson Louis in their starting 11, Andy Burgess and Gary Mills made starts against the club where their careers began.

We started really, really slowly and couldn’t get near Rushden in the first 30minutes. They played some neat stuff at times and if it wasn’t for Foster making a several last ditch slide tackles they would’ve been through on goal a couple of times.

Aaron O’Connor broke the deadlock after 16minutes. The former Stag was allowed to run with the ball and for some reason our defenders just kept backing off him. He hit a powerful strike from the edge of the box and it flew in down to Marriott’s right hand side. I think Marriott’s view was restricted by several players in front of him though as he didn’t react until the shot was nearly past him. Fair play to O’Connor for not celebrating the goal, a fair few Stags fans including me clapped him for that. Top man.

Louis Briscoe managed to create a decent chance after he broke through the Rushden defence but blazed the ball over the bar and into the away support. Rushden continued their dominance and created several more opportunities but they couldn’t get past Alan Marriott in goal. The whistle blew for half time and there was a mixed reaction from the home fans. Some booed but the majority clapped the team off and encouraged the lads.

The Stags players came out after half time and made a great start to the second half. Andy Burgess hit a looped ball over the top of the Rushden defence and Kyle Perry chased it down. A mistake by the Rushden captain gave Perry a chance to win the ball. He managed to prod it into the direction of Jake Speight who wonderfully hit it first time and it found the bottom right hand corner after clipping the inside of the post. Dale Roberts in the Rushden goal stood no chance of saving it.

The goal lifted the Stags fans and the players and we started playing better football. Holdsworth made the first change of the night bringing on Rob Duffy to replace Kyle Perry who had hit the bar minutes earlier. Rushden were denied a stone wall penalty when Aaron O’Connor forced a good save from Marriott but he could only palm the ball away. He after it but instead of grabbing the ball he grabbed Cliff Akurangs legs and he went down. The referee booked Akurang for diving. Great decision.

Rushden restored their goal lead through sub Sam Smith. He broke through the Stags defence and finished into the roof of the net.  Despite going behind we kept our heads up and created two decent chances. Garner fired a shot just wide minutes later and then the Rushden captain sliced a drilled cross just past his back post. Lucky escape for him.

We were back level in the 77th minute. Alan Marriott lumped the ball forward and Jake Speight managed to latch onto the end of it. He elegantly lobbed the ball over the on rushing keeper. 2-2 and game on! Then, former Stag Jefferson Louis got himself sent off for two yellow card offences. The first was in the first half when he shoved Andy Nicholas into the dugouts and he received his second for a cynical foul on Gary Mills. We were on the counter attack and had men over so Louis brought down Mills by wrapping his hands around him and dragging him down. The best of it was he looked surprised when the referee showed him the red card.

The game was there to be won now. Rushden had lost there shape and we were now dominating the game. Kyle Nix went down tamely in the box but the referee waved away his protests. Just two minutes later Kyle Nix went down in the box again and the referee awarded a penalty. From where I was sat it looked very soft but the referee had given it. After missing two penalties at the weekend the pressure was on. Several players wanted the ball but there was only ever going to be one winner. Rob Duffy.

Despite his best efforts Dale Roberts couldn’t put Duffy off. He cooly slotted the ball to the keepers right hand side who could only watch it roll past him and into the net. We had finally scored a penalty! The goal looked like it meant a lot to Duffy who has found himself out of the squad in the last month or two. There were 4minutes of added time but we managed to see the game out and get a much needed victory. The crowd clapped the players of the pitch after a brilliant second half of football. Just a shame we couldn’t produce performances like that when it mattered.

Next up we face Oxford United away on Saturday. Another game against a play off team. Preview will be up tomorrow!

The match winning penalty. Footage by me!

Picture: Richard Parkes/MansfieldTown.net