Goals in the final 5 minutes from substitute Will Swan and Ollie Hawkins saw Mansfield Town defeat Crewe Alexandra at the Alexandra Stadium yesterday, despite Courtney Baker-Richardson’s 70th-minute opener.
Manager Alex Morris made one change from last Saturday’s 1-0 home win against Crawley Town as Khanya Leshabela come in for Eli King in midfield with the latter on international duty with the Wales Under-21s while former Alex striker Jordan Bowery would start on the visitors’ bench.
The visitors had the opening chance of the game in the 6th minute with Stephen Quinn having an effort blocked by Conor Thomas before the first Alex chance came 5 minutes before the break with Bassala Sambou finding Callum Ainley who had an effort deflected behind for a corner.
The Stags would hit the post early in the second half from a Kellan Gordon right-sided cross before Ainley would be taken off due to injury with Rio Adebisi replacing him (Tariq Uwakwe moving into midfield from left-back and Leshabela moving into the attacking midfield position) just after the hour.
The hosts almost took the lead in the 69th minute with Dan Agyei hitting the post from a Leshabela through-ball before the goal came a minute later with Sambou and Agyei (now in a more central position) combined to set up CBR, his effort fired across goalkeeper Christy Pym into the bottom corner. The equaliser came with 3 minutes to play as a through-ball was finished by Nottingham Forest loanee Swan from the edge of the area before the comeback was completed in the final minute with Kieran Wallace’s left-sided cross headed in by defender Hawkins.
The next games for the Alex see a trip to Carlisle United next Saturday before hosting Gillingham the following Saturday.
What can we take out of this game?
A defeat against a team that on the day took their chances when they needed to.
Arthur Okonkwo had made a few saves before the deadlock was broken but the Alex need an option that we can use pace on the break should we drop into the shape that we take every game at the minute we take the lead.