Mansfield Town v Middlesbrough


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Anyone catch this on the Beeb yesterday?

I thought the Stags gave a decent account of themselves and after hitting the woodwork a couple of times could perhaps have considered themselves a little unlucky. Balding up front was particularly lively and caused Boro a few problems all afternoon.

So curious to see Mansfield being televised, a high spot for me was when after the commentators talked about the condemned stand on one side of Field Mill, the cameras panned to some nearby trees where the locals were shining up for a free view of the game!

Bad luck anyway lads. Now show you can play that way in the league.

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Yes, agreed they did well...IMO, their commitment deserved a replay.

Should have been playing v 10 men for an hour after Huth was lucky not be sent off for a disgraceful tackle...even 'King of the Thugs' Keown thought it was a red card!. Predictably, Southgate "didn't see it"...cobblers.

Such coverage, especially the Liverpool game, are regularly spoilt for me by the BBC condescending style of 'under dogs', 'romance of the Cup', '274 places below their opponents' etc.

Rather enjoyed Carlton Palmer's "riding on the tightrope" :Fool:

Cheers

Robt P.

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Yes I agree Rob, the BBC do tend to be a little patronising about the smaller teams. The 'This is what makes the FA Cup the most special competition in the world' stuff. I think they have little original to say apart from the 'binman plays against Gerrard' stuff, sadly. As I watched and listened to the Palmer, Dixon and Gabby I found myself continually wondering what they made of Mansfield as a place? Not that it's important.

It's clubs like Mansfield that have been the traditional rock that football in this country has been grounded on, I think. They bring young professionals into the game and serve them up to larger clubs. They are part of that huge and important pyramid of English football and I don't always believe they get the respect that they deserve.

Middlesborough for me, '78 places above Mansfield in the league' as we were informed continually, were a drab and unremarkable lot. They showed little that would have seen them merited as a top Premiership side. I thought after a few nervous and shaky moments early on that Mansfield set about them pretty well. The Stags came out of the game with plenty to hold their head up about.

One thing that was slightly sad was to see some empty spades on the terraces. Not being able to fill a three-sided ground for such an occasion does not bode well for the future. Perhaps the live TV coverage had something to do with that though. Anyway I wish them well, I also think they have a good guy in Billy Dearden to eventually get them moving upwards.

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