Burton Albion 2-2 Mansfield Town: Offside Call Ruins Stags Do In A Brewery
Football is increasing being overrun by nerds. Stats rule all, and the numbers don’t lie. Unless, of course, they do. One unquantifiable truth that every football fan knows deep within their soul is that romance and narrative will always prevail, even in the unluckiest of circumstances. Striker that was terrible when he played for your team being subbed on against you at 0-0 with ten minutes to go? You already know what’s happening. I’ve personally watched from the stands in a cocktail of disbelief and agony as players who have been labelled “some of our worst signings in history” have turned up years later and played us off the park. It doesn’t matter what the underlying data has to say about it, I don’t care if he has an xG per 90 of 0.05, if he used to play for us, he’s definitely going to score. Take that, nerds. All that is to say that Mansfield a travelled to Burton in search of their first ever league win over their hosts, and some former Brewers in their midst certainly had a big say in the result.
As unlikely as an ex-player returning to haunt you may seem, it skews the numbers slightly if you’re a team based in the East Midlands or South Yorkshire and you’re up against a Nigel Clough side. Cloughy has hit the mightily impressive milestone of over 1000 games in management, made even more impressive by the fact he has surpassed his legendary father Brian’s longevity in the game. He has managed all this whilst never having to move house, keeping within a 45 minute commute of his home in Derbyshire for all his managerial roles. There’s no place like home. It seems as though his scouting net isn’t cast too far either, with 9 of the starting 11 having played for another East Midlands club, or Rotherham, at some point in their pre-Stags career, including 2 former Brewers at the back. Why travel the world in search of a centre forward when David McGoldrick is on your doorstep? Say what you want about his imaginative recruitment, but there’s no arguing that it produces results.
Burton Albion are into their twelfth season at this level, or higher, and this one is the year they finally get relegated, apparently. The Brewers are pipped for the drop year on year and, miraculously in some cases, Gary Bowyer and his predecessors have steered them well away from danger every time. One such predecessor was a Mr Nigel Clough. Clough had 16 successful years at the club over two spells, beginning as a player-manager and taking them from the 7th tier to the brink of promotion into League Two across an 11 year tenure before becoming manager of Derby County and subsequently Sheffield United, returning to Burton 6 years later to guide them to a maiden Championship promotion. He was an ever-present figure through the club’s greatest period, and will always and forever be regarded as the great Burton manager. That being said, I’m he’d love nothing more than to get one over on his former team as Mansfield Town boss.
His side thought they’d got themselves off to the perfect start early in the first half, but had the opening goal of the game chalked off for a marginal, if at all correct, offside call. Some sharp passing play from the Stags saw them break through the Burton press and find summer signing Liam Thompson in acres of room on the halfway line. Thompson drove into the space before playing a beautiful defence-splitting pass to his former Derby teammate David McGoldrick. Didzy did as Didzy does, holding off his defender and finishing well to give his side the lead, but the offside flag had already been raised. The EFL highlights packages can be deceiving, and the lack of a wider angle makes judging these calls tricky, but he does look miles onside. And, frankly, if you’re being beaten for pace by a 38 year-old the goal should have to stand anyway. It was a good chance for McGoldrick to showcase his talents to the only club in the East Midlands who he hasn’t played for so far, the bigwigs in the Burton transfer department will be drumming up a contract as we speak, I’m sure.
Mansfield did manage to score the opening goal of he game shortly after. Unfortunately for them, however, Adedeji Oshilaja turned it into his own net to give Burton the lead. An Oshilaja goal isn’t an unfamiliar sight for the crowd at the Pirelli, he scored 12 across his 133 appearances for the Brewers before joining Mansfield two years ago, and it looks like his muscle memory took over here as he diverted a Charlie Webster cross into his own goal via his thigh. After going the whole of last season goalless, the centre-half would’ve been hoping his first of 25/26 would at least be in the right end. It was yet another case of a player not celebrating a goal against his former club, although we can probably let him off this time.
Burton had doubled their lead before the half hour mark, this time courtesy of a wonderful assist from former Stags loanee Caylan Vickers. I told you there was narrative everywhere in this game. Vickers’ corner hit the first man, much to the delight of the travelling fans who let out a chorus of sarcastic jeers as the ball bounced back out to Vickers on the right hand side. Everyone knows now to point and laugh while the opposition are still on the attack, especially when it’s one of your former players on the ball. This goal is entirely the fault of the Mansfield supporters. You’re asking for it at that point. Vickers took the ball down onto his right foot and dug out a gorgeous cross to the back post, which was gratefully received by the head Jack Armer for 2-0. Burton had taken full advantage of their early slice of luck, but they know better than most that a Nigel Clough team is never beaten until the final whistle goes.
You won’t believe it, but the third goal scorer actually only played for one of these teams! Mansfield got a goal back towards the end of the first half to change the complexion of the game and give themselves the momentum going into the break. Most importantly, they managed to alleviate some of the patented Nigel Clough rage they were about to receive if they’d gone in two goals down. Stags did a great job of recycling possession and continuing to pile on the pressure after Burton cleared the ball, firing the ball back out wide to Nathan Moriah-Welsh to pin Burton back in their own box. The wing-back whipped in an inviting cross into a dangerous area, and when you’ve got Michael Smith stood up front you can guarantee that he’ll gamble on every ball that flashes across the six-yard box. Smith stuck out his left foot and got enough connection on the ball to guide it past Corey Addai and in off the post for 2-1. Deficit halved, and Mansfield could smell blood.
Conceding late on in the half didn’t kill Burtons spirits, however, and they should’ve restored their two goal lead before the halftime whistle. Armer and Webster worked the ball well down the left, resulting in Armer being set free and charging into the box at the byline. His low cross was deflected and fell to Kyran Lofthouse just inside the box with the goal gaping. There were a couple of defenders positioned on the line but, crucially, the goalkeeper had been dragged out of his goal to try and stop Armer’s ball in. Lofthouse panicked and tried to find the top corner so his effort couldn’t be blocked, putting a bit too much behind the shot and clattering the bar. Had he kept his cool and fired hard and low, his side would’ve held a 3-1 lead into the break and probably won the game. To be fair to him, if he had the composure to pick his spot and finish well in that situation he probably wouldn’t be playing wing-back for Burton Albion. 2-1 at the break.
With just over an hour played, and still chasing a goal, Clough turned to his bench and introduced 37 year-old Lucas Akins, another Brewers Alumni. As the looping cross floated into the box, there was clearly some confusion between Curtis Tilt and Kgaogelo Chauke in the Burton defence as to who should be doing what. Both sort of went for it, saw each other, and both pulled out of making any committed challenge for the ball. Ultimately, it will go down as a Chauke error as he swung a foot at the ball and missed it, allowing Akins to finish with power beyond Addai on the volley to draw things level. As poor as Chauke’s attempted clearance is, as an experienced defender Tilt should be communicating better with the young midfielder and taking charge to ensure this doesn’t happen. Akins was alone in the box with two defenders marking him, the fact he's been allowed to shoot from close range is egregious. With over 300 games for the Brewers, Akins’ celebrations were muted. The same couldn’t be said for the travelling Stags fans going wild behind the goal, and who can blame them after seeing their teams overcome a 2 goal deficit with half an hour left to find a winner?
Neither side could find the crucial fifth goal, but it was Stags that came closest. Louis Reed clipped a beautiful pass over the top of the Burton defence from deep that saw Rhys Oates clean through on goal. It seemed like he got caught in two minds as wether to bring it down or hit it first time, in the end he took too long to decide and hit a weak shot on the stretch at Addai, who had completely closed him down by that point. If only Oates had had his porridge in the morning. Full-time, 2-2.
It’s a classic case of an entertaining score draw that neither side are happy with. Burton will be gutted that they’ve let a 2-0 home lead slip from their grasp, and Mansfield will feel they had more than enough chances to win the game, particularly the potentially wrongfully disallowed opening goal. There’s nothing more League One than both teams being miserable. Reading into the table at this early stage is trivial, but Burton are doing especially well to be in 12th considering the fact they’ve been definitely relegated from the third tier for the last 4 seasons. Maybe Gary Bowyer’s side are just good? Mansfield are a point behind in 17th, and just can’t seem to make a consistent run stick. They sandwiched an incredible 5-2 victory over Luton between losing to a god awful Peterborough side and a 5-0 shellacking from Reading, and that run just about sums up their performances thus far. When it’s good, it’s really good. When it’s bad, it’s really bad. When it’s okay, it’s alright. Mansfield Town. I wouldn’t go booking Wembley hotels if I was a Stags fan, but I wouldn’t be paying too much attention to the away days you’d have to go on if you returned to League Two either.
If we’ve learned anything from this game it’s that Charlie Webster is about ten times too good for Burton Albion. He has the quality to easily walk into a top-end challenging League One side, and I don’t think he’d look out of place pulling the strings in some Championship teams either. If Albion can keep him fit and, most importantly, keep him at the club, they’ll be more than fine this season. Finally, if you find yourself playing football in the East Midlands area, keep an eye out for an ominous figure lurking in the shadows. There’s every chance it’s Cloughy looking to employ you to run the channels for his Mansfield side against Wigan next week.