Mansfield Town v Northampton Town
SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Saturday February 14th, 3.00pm
One Call Stadium
MANSFIELD TOWN 1
Vadaine Oliver 48
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 1
Marc Richards 90 pen
Attendance: 4,614 (1,210 Cobblers fans)
Mansfield: Lenny Pidgeley, Ritchie Sutton, Martin Riley, Ryan Tafazolli, Ricky Ravenhill, Simon Heslop, Reggie Lambe (sub Adam Murray 86), Lee Beevers, Jack Thomas (sub Rakish Bingham 73), Junior Brown, Vadaine Oliver.
Subs not used: Sascha Studer, Matt Rhead, Jamie McGuire, Liam Marsden, Billy Kee
Cobblers: Matt Duke, Brendon Moloney, Ryan Cresswell, Lee Collins (sub Ivan Toney 82), Evan Horwood, John-Joe O’Toole, Jason Taylor (sub Billy Bodin 90), Joel Byrom, Lawson D’Ath, Marc Richards, Ricky Holmes (sub Tom Newey 90)
Subs not used: Dean Snedker, Chris Hackett, Ben Tozer, Darren Carter
Referee: Mr L Collins
Booked:
Mansfield: Ricky Ravenhill (20), Ritchie Sutton (39), Reggie Lambe (71), Simon Heslop (77), Martin Riley (84)
Cobblers: Jason Taylor (29, 6th of the season), John-Joe O'Toole (34, 9th), Ricky Holmes (39, 6th), Joel Byrom (60, 9th)
10 cautions on or before 11 April; 2 match suspension
15 cautions at any time in season; 3 match suspension
Sent off:
Mansfield: none
Cobblers: John-Joe O'Toole (36)
Sendings off: 2 cautions in one game; 1 match suspension but cautions do not count towards above totals. Other sendings off; 1 or 3 match suspension. Extra match ban for additional sendings off.
Over 1,200 Cobblers supporters made the trip to Mansfield for what was dubbed by the fans as “John-Joe O’Toole Day”. Wigs and hairbands were in abundance in the away end at Field Mill as Town boss Chris Wilder named an unchanged side.
Ricky Holmes had a shot saved by Lenny Pidgeley on 13 minutes with the winger’s follow-up effort into the side netting. Lee Collins' close range block thwarted Simon Heslop as the first half progressed before the same player then had a shot saved by Matt Duke.
Heslop struck the top of the Cobblers crossbar with a curled free kick on the half hour as the home side enjoyed a spell of pressure.
The Cobblers afternoon then took a turn for the worse as they were reduced to ten men when John-Joe O’Toole shown a straight red card following an altercation inside the Mansfield penalty area.
Mansfield took the lead early on in the second half, Vadaine Oliver firing home after the Cobblers failed to clear from a Stags free-kick.
Jason Taylor thumped a header against the crossbar as Chris Wilder’s side almost immediately got themselves back on level terms.
As the Cobblers continued to press hard for an equaliser, Pidgeley saved from Horwood while Ryan Tafazolli did well to deny Lawson D’Aath a clear goalscoring opportunity.
Ivan Toney replaced Lee Collins as the game entered the final ten minutes. Pidgeley made another good save to keep out an effort from Marc Richards on 86 minutes before the Cobblers were awarded a penalty in stoppage time following a foul on Toney.
Marc Richards stepped up and kept his cool to level the score from the penalty spot and earn the Cobblers a point.
MANSFIELD MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (3) 4
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (3) 3
CORNERS: (2) 2
FOULS: (5) 16
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (2) 4
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (1) 4
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (1) 3
CORNERS: (4) 8
FOULS: (10) 19
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 1
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta