Yates left angered by horror showing
DELIGHTED Mansfield Town manager Adam Murray insisted there was still more to come after the club’s first home win of the season ended poor ten-man Crawley’s unbeaten away record.
The Stags were rewarded for high-tempo football as two goals inside four minutes either side of half-time by Nathan Thomas and Mitchell Rose – their first for the club – set up the home victory.
The result was capped by late goals from Matt Green and Craig Westcarr to leave Murray grinning from ear to ear.
Murray said: “I am not shocked or surprised at the score. It’s nothing I didn’t expect from them as I know them well as a group.
“I work with them every day and I have said all along that when we get it right we’ll be a good team.
“It’s another step on our journey and another building block for us.We probably took a step quicker than I expected in our process and some of the performances were superb. There is still a long way to go to where we want to get to, but overall iy was good.
“We have an ethos here that it’s about us – there is no me.”
Gwion Edwards’ 50th minute red card for Crawley made sure there was no recovery.
Disappointed Crawley manager Mark Yates said: “It was a sending off, I have no complaints.We were powder puff at best. All the credit the players have gained with me over the first five or six games is back to level.
“I hope we didn’t just turn up and expect to produce because we had been on a three-game unbeaten run. How have we gone from three clean sheets on the spin to looking like we could concede at any time?
“It was poor as I can remember and as poor as I ever want to see.We gave the ball away continuously.”
Mansfield made a fast start and might have scored three times in the opening six minutes. Westcarr was denied by keeper Freddie Woodman, Green just failed to touch in Ryan Tafazolli’s header from the following corner and Adam Chapman volleyed wide. Thomas finally broke Crawley’s resistance, cutting out substitute Lee Barnard’s pass to Jimmy Smith and surging past three challenges before hammering home.
Rose punished more hesitant defending, drilling a low shot through a crowded penalty area two minutes into the second period.
Edwards’ red card for a late challenge on Nicky Hunt ended the game as a contest. Green struck the post before tapping in Westcarr’s 70th minute cross. Sixty seconds later they swapped, Green releasing Westcarr to score.