Stags defender Beevers furious after ‘biting’ row at Torquay

Mansfield Town defender Lee Beevers is furious after claiming he was bitten on the arm by opponent Elliot Benyon just before the end of today’s 0-0 draw at Torquay United.
Lee BeeversLee Beevers
Lee Beevers

Beevers squared up to Benyon as players rushed in, but the referee calmed things down, spoke to both players and took no further action.

Stags boss Paul Cox said: “Lee Beevers claims he bit him and it’s not like him to react as he did. He is a model professional.

“If he did, and I say if as I don’t want to condemn anyone until we’ve looked at the DVD, then there is no place for that.

“It does take a lot to rile ‘Beevs’ and there is a mark on his arm, so it is looking that way.

“It could cause an infection. If it happened, it needs stamping on.”

Stags left Torquay with a deserved point from a game spoiled by a high wind, but know it could have more after Krystian Pearce was sent-off for a second bookable offence with 21 minutes to go,

“It is a good point and a clean sheet, but obviously the lads are a bit disappointed right now,” said Cox.

“We ground it out for the first 60 minutes. Then they had a man sent-off. We did what we could. We played two centre forwards and two wingers, but we just couldn’t find a way through.

“We need to be a bit more patient when teams go down to 10 men and take our chances when they arrive.

“We tried to kick the back door down, but sometimes you have just got to use a key and unlock it.

“We couldn’t have done any more to be positive apart from playing one at the back. We had used all our substitutes already.

“We just needed to put the ball in the back of the net. We had a few flashed across the goal but couldn’t capitalise.”

He added: “We probably need to play more on the front foot and create a few more chances in that situation.

“But we have no divine right to go anywhere and expect to win. We have to take the positives and we have come away from home and kept a clean sheet and taken a point.

“The wind was a lot stronger than people thought and I thought we defended well against it first half.

“We have some young kids in there learning their trade and they will get better.

“We probably need to be a bit more sophisticated in the last third if we are going to break teams down when they have had a man sent off.”

Stags arrived in Devon to find groundsman Michael Merriman had not packed the kit onboard the coach. But a phone call saw the missing kit rushed down from Mansfield and arrive just in time for kick-off.

Cox said: “Mez is a bit gutted, But everyone makes mistakes and there was no damage done. He just had 101 things to do and forget to put it on.

“There’s no steward’s inquiry. But there’s probably a few speeding points for someone and I’d like to thank whoever brought it down. They deserve a massive pat on the back.”