United line-up: Barrett, Matt Joseph, Granville, Preece, Craddock, Raynor, Hayes, Hyde, Kyd, Barnwell, Beall.
Subs Not Used: Turner, Thompson, Wanless.
Booked: Craddock

Gareth Challis' match report:
A fairly average performance from the U's last night in my opinion. although neither team seemed to have enough spark to light up the game on a bloody cold night! Can't wait till January!

The first half was somewhat dismal, with the highlights being Mansfield hitting the post, Scotty tipping the ball over the bar from a 25-yard blast looking certain to go in and Barnwell's 'goal' which wasn't - yet to see this on tv, but even 120 yards away at the other end, it seemed as though we were 1-0 up. Oh, and the other highlight was Tony Richards blue hair in the pre-match warm up. I'm looking forward to seeing him back in the side on Saturday (hopefully).

The second half was much better ... the U's came out fighting and so did the Stag's keeper ! A kid down the front must have said something to him as he picked up the ball from behind the net. The keeper pretended to throw the ball in his face, and from that moment the U's fans didn't stop chanting 'dodgy keeper' and generally putting him off - and it seemed to work ....

Four minutes in, Watkiss was sent off for a very late high tackle on Raynor. The U's then began dominate and looked good going forward, but there was always the feeling that there wasn't a striker good enough to cause the damage.

On 55, a cross from the right was dropped by the 'keeper, the ball bounced around the penalty area before falling to Barnwell who side-footed the ball high into the net from a tight angle.

A minute later some terrible defending at a freekick let in Mansfield's old-timer Brian Kilcline to slide in an equaliser.

I'm still not sure what the penalty was for - partly because the referee was not up to much and my view was slightly obscurred. The penalty miss made Roberto Baggio's World Cup final miss look like a Tony Yeboah top-corner volley ... it truly was the worst penalty miss I've ever seen.

A slice of luck on 65 minutes- Hyde chested down the ball too far ahead of himself ... the defender should have dealt with it, but somehow managed to miss the ball completely allowing Kyd in to blast passed the 'keeper. The moment of the match for me came on around 75 minutes. Hyde running down the centre of the field at the defence, Kyd peeling off to the right, and Hyde's superb pull-back of the ball at speed before pushing the ball into Kyd's path. The shot was saved, but that single piece of skill from Hyde shows why he's going to be playing top level football in the next two to three years.

Overall, an average performance, although worth watching just for the happenings in that one third of the game.

Ratings ...

Barrett		6 - A good save, but was not really troubled throughout
		    the game.
Joseph		7 - Reliable
Granville	7 - Getting better all the time
Preece		6 - Not sure what he was doing most of the time, but a
		    made a couple of good passes to split the defence.
Craddock	7 - Can always rely on Jody !
Raynor		7 - Lots of running - Why can't Turner still be fast
		    at the same (ish) age ?
Hayes		7 - Good to see him improving game by game
Hyde		8 - Excellent as usual *MOM*
Kyd		7 - Good running, excellent finish for his goal
Barnwell	7 - Unlucky with the disallowed goal, but much better
		    overall performance from Jamie.
Beall		7 - Excellent movement off the ball.

G.

The Abbey Rabbit's report:
A game of two halves - not that dissimilar to the Orient game. In the first half the U's had a lot of posession, especially in midfield, without ever really treatening - except for when we hit the underside of the bar (which my old man, who watches from the main stand, said was a goal). Having said that Mansfield hit the post, had a shot well tipped over by Scotty and had a goal-bound pile-driver blocked by one of their own players!

In the second-half United upped the tempo and were helped by the dismissal of one of the Mansfield players for disemboweling Raynor! We deservedly took the lead through a superb Barnwwell strike and then let the Stags back in it following some truly sloppy defending. We then conceeded a bizarre penalty which was blazed high and wide - possibly the worst I've ever seen taken in a match! This seemed to wake United up and we pushed forward - some superb work by Micah put Kyd through. United should have added to the lead but always looked suspect to the counter...

Thoughts...
We do need a striker - although Kyd and Barnwell did score, we need someone who can hold the ball up and isn't easily knocked-off it. We missed Thommo or Wanless at the back/playing a mid-field holding role. Lets face it - we can't defend (look at our goals against column compared to our promotion rivals). We're also lagging in the goals for column. Unlike Barnet, Fulham, Carlisle, etc... we don't have a 15 goal a-season man.

Interesting that McFarland is looking at midfielders/defenders. He isn't happy with our off-side tactics and to be honest Preece looks like a player who wants "out" and is just going through the motions at present. McFarland said on the radio that he was happier with our first half performance!

I don't think it was that good a performance, although the second-half was exciting. We can't kill teams off and we defend sloppily... Against another physical/robust side we struggled for long periods - and if I was an opposition manager that's how I'd play against us!

SteveJ

Many thanks to Gareth Challis and Steve Jillings for their reports.

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