By Nathan Jackson
January 29 2005

City beat Mansfield Town 2-0 thanks to goals from Simon Yeo and Ciaran Toner to move up to 6th. City were comfortable for most of the game and only a fine performance from Mansfield keeper, Kevin Pilkington kept the score respectable from a Mansfield point of view.

Mansfield kicked off shooting towards the Stacey West end of the ground. Richard Barker soon tried to find a way through to goal but McAuley made a last ditch tackle to deny the midfielder. Mansfield gained a corner minutes later but it was easily cleared after Simon Brown's inswinger was headed away.

Noticing that Mansfield were lining up in a 4-5-1 formation, Keith made his old favourite move as he pushed Jamie McCombe up front with very little effect. City's first effort was a tame attempt by Butcher as Pilkington easily gathered. It was a very slow game with very little going on but you could see why both teams were on good runs.

On 22 minutes, a header downwards from Sandwith saw Green run through but his shot was awkwardly cleared by Pilkington and the ball fell to GTF who sent in a delocatly chipped cross which Yeo only just failed to get on the end of.

The rest of the first half was pretty empty and only a shot gone wide from Yeo was some sort of entertainment. At half time, Keith Alexander replaced McCombe with Gain and the formation went to the 4-3-3 system. The effect was almost immediate because as soon as the second half began, City started attacking and there was far more quality about it.

City then broke down Mansfield when GTF passed to Yeo who sent in a cross, Matt Bloomer hit it against the underside of the bar and after a mini scramble, Ciaran Toner smashed it into the net to give the Imps a 53rd minute lead.

4 minutes later City gained a corner. Sandwith took the ball which McAuley headed downwards but Green's half volley went a considerable distance over. Colin Larkin and Derek Asamoah came on for Mansfield as they reverted from the 4-5-1 to the 4-4-2 formation but that didn't last long. After a failed Mansfield corner, every player was in the final third of City's half when Yeo tapped the ball past Buxton and then past Dimech, Yeo had the whole pitch to work with as he was one on one with Pilkington, however, Yeo was tripped by Dimech and the former City trainee was given a straight red for being last man. Sounds a bit odd doesn't it, last man when he's 80 yards up field.

GTF produced and excellent cross for Green who saw his shot well saved by Pilkington who then recovered quickly to push the ball away from the quickly advancing Simon Yeo. The former Man Utd youth team goalkeeper was in fine form despite conceeding the goal earlier in the game and kept the score respectable for his team with many fines saved, for a while anyway. In the 81st minute, City got a free kick on the edge of the area, Sandwith smashed the ball towards Pilkington, the ball hit the keeper's chest and Yeo pounced to make it 2-0 to City. Westcarr replaced Yeo and the final 9 minutes played out with no major incidents.