Mansfield Town 2-0 Nottingham Forest U23 (Friendly) 18.08.20

No sooner did Mansfield and Forest find out their destiny in next seasons first round of the Carabao Cup after the live televised draw this morning did they head for the field of play to begin a pre-season friendly match which involved the Stags first team and the Reds under 23’s in an 11am kick off at the RH Academy.

For the record Forest drew Barnsley away in the League Cup as memories still hurt from that 90^th minute defeat which ultimately cost the reds a place in last seasons playoffs, the Stags drawn away at Championship side Preston in what looks like a tough tie for Graham Coughlan’s men.

Back to action though and Stags went strong from the off with Danny Rose returning from injury and Aaron O’Driscoll trialling after his release from Southampton. The young Reds with Virgil Gomis in attack included a trialist of their own with the promising Ricky Harbottle in defence alongside Rezart Rama.

Mansfield started on the front foot with Rose first to test the goalkeeper following good work by Jamie Reid down the left. The Reds first opportunity quashed by Ollie Stone who rushed out quickly from his goal to stop their attack.

On 19 minutes Maris shot from 25 yards blocked and a minute later Gordon forced the best of Wright in the Reds goal to palm away his powerful strike.

Sinclair and Rose posed Forest a threat but the Stags couldn’t break down a solid red door before half time as the two sides went in at the break level.

Forest brought on Silvio Bello, Jordan Fankwe, Aaron Donnelly and Alex Gibson-Hammond at the break and moments in to the second forty-five the Stags might have had a penalty when Sinclair went down inside the box.

The Reds had a good opportunity to score blocked by Walker before Rose headed straight at Wright at the other end and five minutes before the hour Mansfield took the lead when a Mal Benning free kick from out wide flew all the way in to the Forest goal.

That goal lead to a number more changes and the Stags brought on James Perch and Corey O’Keefe for debuts whilst chances went begging for the home team before a last opportunity with two minutes remaining was converted as Mansfield doubled their advantage with Scott forcing an error in the Reds defence to feed young ex-Red, Jimmy Knowles, who made no mistake in wrapping the game up.

Stags: Stone, O’Driscoll, Clarke, Walker, Benning, Gordon, Maris, Sinclair, Rose, Reid, Knowles.

Forest: Wright, Spooner, Rama, Harbottle, Sanders, Preston, Hammond, Dekel, Barnes, Gomis, Trialist.

*Main image @mansfieldtownfc action from Mansfied and Forest U23’s at the RH Academy.