Mansfield fail to halt leaders’ run of success

Coalville have won every game bar one this season, which was against Mansfield back in October when they drew 2-2.

So Coalville had a point to prove and they came out very strong, but Mansfield also wanted to prove their worth and had three great goal scoring opportunities in the first five minutes.

After this, Coalville got into their rhythm and were passing around the pitch with great effect.

Halfway into the first half Coalville created a penalty corner opportunity. After having their first shot saved, a Coalville attacker applied the finish on the rebound to put them 1-0 up.

This really got Coalville moving and within five minutes they had a second goal. After some good passing a ball was made to an open player on the back post who had a simple tap-in.

Yet again Coalville were in full flow and put a third goal in only another five minutes after the previous. A Coalville player running across Mansfield’s D managed to deflect a ball that was hit across from the left wing to put the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal.

Towards the end of the first half, the game was moving end to end with both teams having chances of scoring stopped.

With two minutes to go, Mansfield progressed up the right wing and managed to find their captain, Martin Gardiner, who was stood at the top of Coalville’s D.

Gardiner managed to get a shot away before being closed down and placed it into the bottom left corner of the goal to make the score 3-1.

In the second half most of the play was around the middle of the pitch, both teams displaying great defensive pressure.

15 minutes into the second half, Coalville began to control more possession of the ball, as in the first half, and they managed to spread Mansfield all over the pitch in attempts to tackle them.

This created space for another simple tap-in goal when a Coalville player was left unmarked in the D once more.

Mansfield only created a few scoring opportunities in the second half with their best coming from a penalty corner. This attempt was unsuccessful because of an accidental stray pass.

With the game coming to a close Mansfield began to tire and a Coalville defender split the play by a long ball that was received by a team mate behind the Mansfield defence. With only the goalkeeper to beat the player went past his right hand side to make the final score 5-1.