From the Stags’ point of view, the referee ruined the game for them yesterday.
City won 2-0 thanks to a Rob Street (again, olé olé) penalty and a late second by Tom Bayliss. That gave us a ten-point lead over third-placed Bolton Wanderers and left the home side just five points off the bottom four.
After the game, Nigel Clough and his staff were furious with referee David Rock, claiming they should have had at least one penalty. Michael Skubala praised the referee, pointing to another factor that heavily influenced a tough game for supporters to watch.
Firstly, he was full of praise for his side as it became 16 games unbeaten in the league.
“We had to dig really deep,” he told John Helm after the game. “Second half it was tough, the centre halves digging in, making tackles.
“They put it on us and we had to be really strong. I think the game had a story of two halves. First half with the ball we were in the ascendancy, trying to put them on the back foot and get that first goal as we always do.
“Second half you saw the best of us without the ball. Good stuff from us in the first half with it, then second half it was a tough game.”
The pitch didn’t look in the best condition, probably not helped by malfunctioning sprinklers which left two big puddles in the middle before the game. After a lot of rain, ground staff are having a tough time keeping pitches in good condition, and Mansfield’s looked heavy, which Michael confirmed.
“(It was a) huge factor,” Michael added. “It’s hard to explain how soft it is. It’s not against the groundsman, everyone knows how much rain we’ve had and pitches are going soft everywhere. It just makes it slower and you can see it getting stuck between players.
“The game becomes more direct because you don’t want to take so many risks with the ball. I thought we managed that really well in the first half and then in the second half it got a bit sticky for both teams.
“It’s hard to play on that, not just moving the ball quickly but with the physicality and running off the back of people, which we pride ourselves on. We found that tough today.”
While referee Rock was the main talking point for the home side, Michael paid tribute to his performance, where perhaps giving them a penalty would have been seen as an easy decision, given that he had already awarded one to City.
“It’s a difficult decision for the referee with the home crowd and the noise, but I thought he got them right. The one in the contest I didn’t see was Conor McGrandles, but when you look back he’s got a foot there and it’s bounced off the player.
“Unbelievable defending from Conor just to get enough on it. For me the referee did really well in those situations.”
Of course, football is like art; it is subjective, and while Mansfield will vehemently argue that they deserved something, we will say otherwise. However, in a calm post-match interview, Michael certainly refused to be drawn into any headline-grabbing statements, which is what we have come to expect.
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