Stags are fine after ‘strangest decision’

A BEMUSED Steve Evans described the decision to disallow a goal for his Mansfield Town side as ‘one of the strangest decisions’ he has ever seen.

It looked like Kane Hemmings had fired Stags into a two-goal lead after Stevenage keeper Joe Fryer flapped at a second-half free-kick whilst under pressure.

But, as Mansfield celebrated, referee Tom Nield blew for a foul just seconds after seeming to allow the goal.

“The referee gives the goal and then changes his mind,” said Evans.

“The assistant referee says he did not cancel it. So we can only assume it’s the Stevenage players that have got to him because he changes his mind.

“When people look back at the highlights they will see the referee pointed to the halfway line and gave the goal.

“None of the officials and no one in the stadium know why it was disallowed. The keeper’s been fouled by one of his own players.”

Mansfield hit the front in the 24th minute after Fryer completely missed the ball as he attempted to punch away a long free-kick.

It allowed Spencer to cushion a header into the path of Hemmings who had the simplest of finishes.

The goal was reward for growing dominance by the home side who had gone close before when Jimmy Spencer headed over on ten minutes, before Alex MacDonald had a low shot saved.

Fryer denied Spencer twice either side of the break as promotionchasing Stags stepped up the pressure.

But the blundering keeper was rescued on 57 minutes after the referee disallowed Hemmings’ strike.

Joe Martin saw a free-kick deflected over for a corner on 83 minutes as Stevenage failed to register a single shot on target.

CJ Hamilton and Will Atkinson both wasted chances for Mansfield in the closing moments.

But, despite his side’s failure to get a shot on target, Stevenage boss Darren Sarll felt his side had not under-performed.

He said: “We did not deserve to lose this match, absolutely not. An individual error has cost us. The season is full of problem solving, you get a problem and solve it, you get another problem and solve it as quick as you can to move forward.

“It was always going to be a tough month and I do not think we have underperformed.

“We are not equipped with masses.

“We were comfortable in the second half against a double budget side.”