Mansfield Town 3-0 Bradford City (EFL League Two) 25.01.20

Mansfield Town Manager Graham Coughlan finally got the response he wanted after the Stags battered Bradford City at the One Call Stadium by three goals to nil.

The home team got off to the perfect start after just seven minutes when a wonderfully whipped in right wing centre by Alex McDonald was headed home by Danny Rose, towering above his marker to nod down into the corner of Luke McGee’s net sending the Field Mill faithful into uproar of emotion.

That lead was almost doubled when a short corner was played back to Harry Charsley who’s cross was flicked on by Neal Bishop only to be hooked wide from close range by Ryan Sweeney.

Debutant Charsley went close himself which kicked Bradford into gear with a spell of possession that fortunately came to nothing before Krystian Pearce saw his header saved well following a nod back from a deep right-wing corner by Benning.

On 43 minutes another Benning corner this time found Nicky Maynard at the back post un-marked and un-opposed as he found enough space to head down into the bottom corner of the Bantams net for his 12^th league goal of the campaign.

In the second half Bradford’s best chance came after the Referee awarded an indirect free kick when Pearce was adjudged to have passed back to Olejnik. Eoin Doyle smashed his effort hard and low towards the Stags wall of defenders who charged down the danger away for a corner.

The charging didn’t stop as Rose charged down a goalkeeper’s clearance as Benning charged to intercept it, charging forward from left back to slip in Maynard who’s low cross evaded everyone.

Soon after though a throw in from the left by Benning found substitute Cook and with his first touch sharply turned and poked low into the corner to all but seal the win.

Maynard went close to a fourth late on blazing over but it mattered not, the rot had already ended and the Stags at last had only their second league win in over 3 months.

After the match a beaming Graham Coughlan stated “Today we’ve set the standard and I want us to continue it. The work rate has been there, the fitness levels have gone up and the intensity of training has risen.”

“Their attitude, work rate and commitment has been there for all to show – we were just making some basic errors. Today, we’ve put our bodies on the line and showed what it means to play for Mansfield Town Football Club.”

The Stags next face 20^th place Oldham Athletic at Boundary Park on Tuesday who despite being two places behind the Stags are level on points with 30 from 29 played.

Stags: Olejnik, Benning, Pearce, Bishop, MacDonald, Maynard (Cook 74), Sweeney, Riley, Hamilton, Charsley (Tomlinson 83), Rose (Knowles 74).

*Main image @mansfieldtownfc celebrating Cook’s seventh goal of the season in the win over Bradford.