Mansfield Town 3 Northampton Town 0 - the match report
SKY BET LEAGUE 2
Saturday September 21st, 3.00pm
One Call Stadium
MANSFIELD TOWN 3
Ben Hutchinson 31
Sam Clucas 33
Mathias Kouo-Doumbe 64og
NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0
Attendance: 3,469 (460 Cobblers fans)
Mansfield: Alan Marriott, Ritchie Sutton, John Dempster, Sam Clucas (sub Jake Speight 81), Ryan Tafazolli, Anthony Howell, James Jennings, Lee Beevers, Ben Hutchinson (sub Lee Stevenson 54), Jamie McGuire, Calvin Andrew (sub Matt Rhead 63)
Subs not used: Keiran Murtagh, Lindon Meikle, Colin Daniel, Oliver Palmer
Cobblers: Matt Duke, Kevin Amankwaah, Matt Heath (sub Joe Widdowson 13), Mathias Kouo-Doumbe, Lee Collins, Chris Hackett, Matty Harriott (sub Roy O'Donovan 73), Darren Carter, Ian Morris, Clive Platt, Jacob Blyth
Subs not used: Ben McNamara, Ivan Toney, JJ Hooper, Danny Emerton, Ben Tozer
Referee: Mr S Rushton
Booked:
Mansfield: none
Cobblers: none
5 cautions on or before 31 December; 1 match suspension
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: none
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.
Mathias Kouo-Doumbe made his debut at centre half while in midfield Ian Morris and Matty Harriott replaced Roy O'Donovan and the suspended Gary Deegan.
The Cobblers were forced into making an early change after Matt Heath picked up an injury following an innocuous looking challenge with Calvin Andrew. Widdowson came on at left-back with Collins reverting to centre-half.
Calvin Andrew headed straight at Matt Duke in Mansfield's first chance of the afternoon while for the Cobblers Chris Hackett failed to connect cleanly with a Clive Platt flick-on.
Mansfield took the lead on 31 minutes, Ben Hutchinson with a sweetly struck free-kick from just outside the area. That lead was then quickly doubled, Sam Clucas with a shot from just inside the area.
Darren Carter had a free-kick touched over by Alan Marriott at the end of the first half, Doumbe heading over from the ensuing corner.
As the game approached the hour mark, Carter saw another free-kick well saved by Marriott before the Stags keeper then pulled off another good stop to deny Morris.
Mansfield then increased their lead further in rather fortunate circumstances, Mathias Kouo-Doumbe slicing a clearance over and beyond Duke.
Platt headed just wide before Roy O'Donovan replaced Matty Harriott.
Carter rattled the inside of the post with a shot deep in to stoppage time but it was not the Cobblers day as Mansfield claimed a 3-0 victory.
MANSFIELD MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (4) 5
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (0) 4
CORNERS: (1) 1
FOULS: (5) 11
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (1) 3
COBBLERS MATCH STATS (first half in brackets, match total out of brackets)
SHOTS ON TARGET: (2) 9
SHOTS OFF TARGET: (6) 10
CORNERS: (3) 8
FOULS: (5) 9
CAUGHT OFFSIDE: (0) 0
The above stats are recorded by club staff. The stats shown elsewhere on this page are recorded by Opta.