Mansfield Town boss fumes after Newport County defeat

Mansfield Town boss David Flitcroft fumed at Newport County after a ‘horrible’ afternoon in which his side lost ground in the League Two title race.

Mansfield failed to capitalise on a Lincoln City draw, going down 1-0 to Robbie Wilmott’s 15th minute strike. It meant the Imps opened up a three-point gap between themselves and Flitcroft’s Stags, as well as having a game in hand.

Pressure increased from below as Bury won 3-2 at Morecambe, despite suffering a scare as they went from 3-0 up to 3-2 for the closing period of the game.

Flitcroft, whose Mansfield side boast Tyler Walker and Jorge Grant, was angry at what he described as a ‘horrible’ game of football.

“I have just experienced 100 minutes of horrible football from both teams,” said the Stags boss to the Mansfield Chad. “It was probably one of the worst football experiences that I have had, watching a game.”

“We needed to be more courageous. We needed to be braver on the ball. But Newport take you out of your rhythm and the referee helped them with that. I don’t think he broke into a run all game to keep up with play. You have to have a top referee on a pitch like this. You have to be right near everything.”

Flitcroft, who has asked for a top referee in matches before, felt referee Graham Salisbury missed two bad challenges, one that could have given his side a penalty. He’s previously asked for a ‘top referee’ in a match against Lincoln City as he felt that they influence decisions too much.

Our View

They’ll need a big referee next weekend, they face local rivals Notts County who might be in relegation trouble, but have a win and a draw behind them against promotion-chasing teams. They’re a tough side to break down and hopefully, for Flitcroft’s sake, they get a top ref, eh?

With the tools at his disposal, Flitcroft should have a side well clear of the chasing pack. Tyler Walker and Jorge Grant are both costing a lot of money and should be close to the Nottm Forest first team next season, but there’s still work to be done to assure a top three finish.