My Mansfield selection

By Peegs
March 7 2003

Peegs selects his team to face Mansfield Town in a bottom of the table clash in Division 2 at Whaddon Road, will the team be the same as the one Bobby Gould decides to select?

A fixture that has been singled out by Bobby Gould as a “must win game” sees Mansfield visit to Whaddon Road, with injuries.

In goal I will select Steve Book, in my opinion he hasn’t had a bad season, a good shot stopper and clear number one.

The left back position will be taken by Jamie Victory, in recent weeks his game has improved, he will have the job of marking highly rated Stags right winder Lee Williamson.

In my opinion Mike and Shane Duff should be partnered in the centre of defence, they have a good understanding of each other and the pacy Iyseden Christie may just be too quick for John Brough.

Right back will be the fit again Steve Jones, his task will be to stop Wayne Corden terrorising the back line with crosses, he is another one of Mansfield’s highly rated youngsters.

Left midfield will see Grant McCann, Bobby Gould must keep him out on the wing as he is most effective here, win as many free kicks around the box as possible (dive if you must) as he is Beckhamesque with his set pieces!

The centre midfield positions are where the interesting decisions must take place, two of Finnigan, McAuley (still available for selection), Yates, Milton or Bird will play there.

I am going for a midfield pairing of John Finnigan and Dave Bird. It was a disgrace that John Finnigan was dropped in the first place and is now rightly back in the team, Dave Bird has worked hard in the reserves and now with a couple of impressive displays has earnt the right to dislodge Yates from the starting eleven.

Right midfield will in my opinion be Martin Devaney, with Alsop injured upfront “Disco” could be an option to move up top but I feel he will be more effective using his pace down the wings.

As I have said Alsop is injured and could be out for the season, Damian Spencer has been on the treatment table all week and Marvin Brown has been seen puking at the training ground, good news there then!

So Tony Naylor as the only fully fit striker is a certainty to play, if Spencer and Brown aren’t fully fit Paul Brayson may get a rare start up front, however my choice would be to play Damian Spencer upfront. I feel a target man is needed to ruff up Stagsplayer boss Keith Curle.

My subs bench would read as follows: Higgs (regular sub goalie), Brayson, Milton I see him as a more useful midfield option than Yates, Brough as a defensive option and Marvin Brown incase pace needs to be injected to the game in a last ditch ploy to gain 3 valuable relegation points.

Stags players to look out for are player manager Keith Curle, ex Kiddie Fiddler striker Colin Larkin 18 goal striker Iyseden Christie, Wayne Corden and Lee Williamson are a very good wing combination and new signing from Preston North End Adam Eaton who will line up at left back.

I hope the 16 players that I mentioned above will be in Bobby Goulds selection tomorrow and I pray we don’t see Yates or McAuley gracing the Whaddon Road turf tomorrow.