Nick has a knack
NICK POWELL boosted Stoke’s promotion hopes much to the despair of the man who signed him – Nathan Jones.
The Luton boss captured the former Manchester United man, 26, during his miserable 10 months in charge at the Potteries.
Powell (above) has grown in stature under current Potters boss Michael O’Neill who looks upon the forward as his talisman.
Neither manager would have been surprised at the silky skills and finishing power which left O’Neill beaming and Jones red faced on his first return here since being sacked.
Powell’s double gave the home side belief they can gatecrash the play-off party. And Jones said: “When you come back to your old club you really want your players to step up, really battle and put on a display. We were miles off.
“It’s probably the worst performance
I’ve ever had as Luton manager and by coincidence it’s come at my old club so I’m very disappointed.”
Powell pounced after just 20 minutes following good work by Steven Fletcher.
And his aerial prowess was fully demonstrated when he increased the lead in the 63rd minute with a powerful header from Joe Allen’s cross.
Sub James McClean took advantage of a mix up between Martin Cranie and Sonny Bradley to set up Fletcher.
O’Neill said: “It was a good result and it’s now back- to-back wins which is not easy. Maybe we should just have been a bit more clinical at times.”
STOKE: Gunn 6; Smith 6, Souttar 7, Batth 6, Norrington-Davies 6; Allen 7, Thompson 6 (Clucas 64, 6); Brown 6 (Clarke 74, 6), Powell 8 (Mikel 64, 6), Tymon 6 (McClean 74, 6); Fletcher 7 (Vokes 80). Unused subs: Davies, Chester, Oakley-Boothe, Cousins. LUTON: Sluga 7; Cranie 6 (Hylton 83), Rea 6, Bradley 6, Potts 6; Mpanzu 6 (Tunnicliffe 67, 6), Bree 6 (Morrell 67, 6), Dewsbury-Hall 6; Cornick 7 (Moncur 83), Clark 8, Collins 6 (Adebayo 83) Unused subs: Shea, Berry, Naismith, Lualua.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Nick Powell. Another cultured display from the forward who is displaying the skills which took him to Manchester United.
REFEREE: Rob Jones 7.
Mansfield 0 Cambridge 3
MARK BONNER wants his Cambridge side to enjoy the “adventure” of a promotion challenge.
A brace from Paul Mullin and a Harvey Knibbs (above) goal kept Bonner’s side top of the table. “We are on an adventure,” the Cambridge boss said.
“We are enjoying where we are and the situation we find ourselves in. The shackles are off – attack it and have a go – why not? In some sense there’s no real pressure on us. We just need to enjoy it and see how long we can go for. We know we are nearing the back end of the season.
“The table will chop and change – we know that. Teams have games in hand and some will catch us up.
“We have to try to stay there as long as we can by our own results.” Mansfield manager
Nigel Clough added: “I don’t think the scoreline reflected the nature of the game.
“But it probably reflected why Cambridge are where they are at the top of the league.
“There was nothing in the game and then they can suddenly come out of it 3-0 winners.
“They showed a ruthless streak we didn’t have today.”