Clough’s remaining grounded as Forest fall in torrential rain
NIGEL CLOUGH delivered the first green shoots of recovery for struggling Mansfield yesterday.
In his first league game in charge, the Stags braved a secondhalf cloudburst to bank their first three points of the season.
First-half goals from George Lapslie and Harry Charsley proved enough to break Mansfield’s duck – although it took a heroic, backs-to-thewall effort in torrential rain to see the job through.
Clough said: “It’s been too long coming and we’re not going to get carried away – three wins in a week, two of them in cup competitions, is a good start, but that’s all it is.
“The players’ effort was absolutely momentous in those conditions. In the last 10 minutes or so, when we were really under pressure, we defended magnificently.
“When you are desperate for your first victory, that’s the kind of effort you need. When you are 2-0 down at half-time, as Forest Green were, you have nothing to lose and you are going to dominate possession.
“We defended as if our lives depended on it – and in our position, that’s what we needed to do.”
In their bamboo shirts, Forest Green are English football’s undisputed eco-warriors.
They will be serving vegan Bovril at the Innocent New Lawn when fans are readmitted – which sounds like a compelling case for lockdown to continue.
And when the heavens opened in Gloucestershire’s monsoon season, at least Forest Green chairman Dale Vince was happy – they recycle rainwater here and the pitch never goes thirsty.
It’s good to have the son of Old Big ’Ead back on the hamster wheel and Clough was performing a celebratory jog inside five minutes as Lapslie fired the Stags in front.
Although Rovers keeper Luke McGee did well to parry the unmarked Lapslie’s first effort, he had no chance from the rebound.
And Clough’s war dance was given another airing 10 minutes before the break, Jordan Bowery teeing up Charsley to low into the far corner.
Marek Stech’s brilliant one-handed save from Jamille Matt denied Rovers a foothold in the contest before the interval, and Farrend Rawson’s header bounced off the top of his own bar as Mansfield lived dangerously.
Five minutes from time, Odin Bailey scrambled home from six yards as the visitors struggled to clear Nicky Cadden’s corner to set up a nervy finish.
Forest Green boss Mark Cooper has called his squad in for extra training today, but he insisted: “It’s not a punishment – we should have won the game.
“We were outstanding in the second half and had enough chances.”
FOREST GREEN: McGee 5; Kitching
6, Godwin-Malife 6, Moore-Taylor 6 (Stevens 76th) Wilson 5 (Collins (46th)
6); Winchester 6, Adams 6, Cadden
6, Bailey 5, Matt 6 (Richardson 76th), Young 7
MANSFIELD: Stech 7; Gordon 7, Rawson 8, Perch 7, Benning 7; Lapslie
7, Charsley 7, Maris 5 (O.Clarke (31st)
5), McLaughlin 7; Bowery 6, Maynard 5 (O’Keeffe 82nd)
STAR MAN: Farrend Rawson
REF: B Huxtable