The fallout from Saturday’s League One meeting between Mansfield Town and Stockport County is set to continue, with the Stags preparing to formally approach the English Football League over a refereeing error that their manager believes fundamentally altered the contest.
Mansfield were beaten 2-1 at Field Mill, a result that leaves them deep in the relegation fight, but the focus afterwards was firmly on an incident just before the interval. Despite stoppage time still remaining in the first half, the referee blew for half-time early, bringing play to a halt a minute sooner than expected.
For manager Nigel Clough, the issue was not one of interpretation or subjective judgment, but a straightforward mistake that he believes cannot be ignored.
Asked whether he had been baffled by some of the decisions during the game, Clough said,
“Yeah, definitely. We were denied a minute of legitimate game time at the end of the first half, where they made a grave error, in blowing up one minute early.”
Under-pressure Clough confirmed after the match that Mansfield intend to escalate the matter, arguing that the lost time could have had a direct impact on the outcome.
“We’re going to ask the EFL if we can replay the game, because anything can happen in a minute,” he said.
“Somebody could be sent off, you can score two goals, so to be denied 60 seconds of legitimate game time is extremely concerning.
“This isn’t an opinion, this is not ‘was it a foul or was it not a foul’, this is blatant timekeeping.”
On the pitch, the match had been finely balanced. An own goal at each end meant the teams went into the break level, before Jack Diamond converted a Ben Osborn cross midway through the second half to put Stockport in front. Mansfield were unable to find an equaliser, but Clough also felt there were other moments that went against his side.
Speaking later on BBC Radio Nottingham, Clough addressed the mood among supporters and the pressure created by a poor run of results.
“There has to be [patience] because it’s blatant, it’s obvious for everybody to see when they are not giving free kicks like the one that led to the first goal, just generally,” he said.
“We don’t want anything in our favour, I have to stress that, we just want the correct decisions. I don’t feel as though we are getting those at the moment.”
Mansfield Town in trouble
The defeat leaves Mansfield just inside the bottom four, with several sides separated by only a single point in the lower reaches of League One. While match replays due to officiating mistakes are extremely rare, the club believe the nature of the error makes this situation different.
The simple fact is the Stags are struggling because they’re not very good, and they’re in a league packed with bigger-budget teams. The league doesn’t always tell the truth in terms of form, but with Peterborough and Blackpool putting runs together, some of the division’s middleweights are finding it hard to keep their head above water.
While the standard of officiating is questionable at times in League One this season, the chances of the EFL allowing the game to be replayed are minimal.
