3rd tier* League fixture
*Then known as Division Three

Mansfield Town 1     Notts County 3
Wilkinson 13                                                     Robinson 51
                                                                         Johnson 73,78
 

Attendance:- 6,016
Referee:- B. Hill
Weather:- Thick cloud, sunny spells
Corners:- Mansfield 6 Notts 10
Goal attempts on target:- Mansfield 4 Notts 9
Goal attempts off target:- Mansfield 4 Notts 6
Bookings:- Draper (Notts) for a foul
 

Mansfield Town
Colours:- All yellow with blue side panelling
League Position:- before match 14th/24, after match 15th/24
Manager:- George Foster (as player manager, his assistant was Billy Dearden)

1.   Brian Cox
2.   David Hunt
3.   Mark Kearney
4.   Trevor Christie
5.   George Foster
6.   Kevin Gray
7.   Kevin Kent
8.   Tony Lowery *
9.   Steve Wilkinson
10. Steve Charles
11. Ian Hathaway

Sub: Ian Stringfellow *79
Other sub not used
 

Notts County
Colours:- Black and white striped shirts with yellow trim, Black shorts, White socks
League Position:- before match 9th/24, after match 7th/24
Manager:- Neil Warnock

1.   Steve Cherry
2.   Charlie Palmer
3.   Nicky Platnauer
4.   Craig Short
5.   Dean Yates
6.   Phil Robinson
7.   Mark Draper
8.   Phil Turner
9.   Gary Lund
10. Tommy Johnson
11. Paul Barnes *

Sub: Phil Stant *81
Sub not used: Don O'Riordan

Video of the match:- 40 seconds worth of goals action (dubbed with music) was screened on 'Central News East' as part of a general round up of the weekend's action. Yorkshire TV aired a more considered report on "Goals on Sunday".
 

Nottingham Evening Post Reports

STAGS FALL TO MAGPIE MAGIC
By David Stapleton

NOTTS COUNTY settled a compelling local 'derby' with Mansfield Town at Field Mill by arguably touching their best forn or the season in a dominant second half. The Magpies wore down Mansfield with a potent mixture of strength, high ball measures and deft on-the-ground play. Even their goals were symptomatic, culminating in the artful curling left-footer which two-goal Tommy Johnson planted into the net in 79 minutes to clinch Notts' second away win of the season and the first since the opening day. Notts were a transformed team after the interval. Though they made a good start and were on top when Steve Wilkinson gave Stags a 13th minute lead, they were exposed at the back several times in the first half. Had Mansfield been able to finish better after impish winger Ian Hathaway had turned Notts inside out, they might have secured a clear cut advantage. Hathaway mirrored Mansfield's deterioration as much as anyone. After more than justifying his recall with his first half trickery and pace, he was hardly seen afterwards.

TURNED OVER
It meant that over the 90 minutes Mansfield had better performers -like goalkeeper Brian Cox. Cox might have given Johnson a bit too much room in which to place the third goal gem, but he made agile saves and took most of the crosses that came his way in exemplary fashion. He distinguished himself as early as the 11th minute. Gary Lund made a powerful surge from a deep position before striking a vicious shot which the 'keeper turned over.
Mansfield moved ahead in virtually their first attack. Hathaway flummoxed Craig Short and Nicky Platnauer with his sleights of foot on the right and centred to the near post, where Wilkinson glanced a fine header wide of Steve Cherry's right hand into the corner.
Soon afterwards. Hathaway initiated another break, this time on the left, which bad County's defence in total disarray before Steve Charles shot narrowly wide. Notts' captain Phil Turner, with a poor back pass undid what he bad previously accomplished by measured use of the ball and alert Interceptions. It was fortunate for Turner that, having let Wilkinson in, Short was able to make a vital interception.
County themselves missed two first half opportunities. Yates put a 15-yard volley over the bar when Lund headed down a Platnauer free-kick. Three minutes before the break Paul Barnes had a fine chance to justify his surprise recall for Gary Chapman - omitted for the first time since his arrival on loan seven weeks ago.

GOOD WORK
Turner played the ball in to Lund, whose audacious flick put Barnes clear through the middle, only for the shot to hit Cox's legs as the 'keeper left his line well. It took the Magpies only six second-half minutes to equalise, a position from which they achieved progressive command.
Johnson was even involved in the leveller, his left-wing corner being back-beaded by Yates for Robinson to nod into the roof of the net.
It was Robinson’s first league goal for Notts and reward for much good work in midfield, where Turner and Mark Draper were also conspicuous despite the five players that Stags poured into that department. Draper contrived to pick up his first booking of the season in 36 minutes, the result of an over-enthusiastic challenge on Charles. He might have been joined in the referee's notebook as some 'needle' crept into the game with the score 1-1, but it proved to be short-lived. Primarily it was an entertaining match with plenty of action and a long way removed from the dour image which tends to accompany such games. Notts manager Neil Warnock had stated beforehand that both sides were equipped to go for the win on the backs of good recent records. He resisted the temptation to play a sweeper and his policy brought its own reward. So when County took the lead in 73 minutes it was almost inevitable. Barnes put a diving header past the far post, and immediately before the goal Johnson fed Lund whose shot was again blocked by Cox's legs. Palmer's centre was then deflected to Johnson, who shot fiercely into the roof of the net from close range. Six minutes later Stags' player-manager George Foster lost his footing on the right and Johnson brilliantly exploited the situation with his clever finish. Notts might have scored more than three goals for the first time this season as they proceeded to tear apart Mansfield's defence. Draper got through, but his deflected shot missed by inches, then Johnson sent substitute Stant running clear, only for hero Cox to again rescue his side.
 
 

PAVIS GREENS A HELP TO TOMMY
JOHNSON’S VEG TONIC
By David Stapleton and John Lomas

TWO GOAL Tommy Johnson told of the tonic effect of the chairman's greens after firing Notts County to a 3-1 local 'derby' win at Mansfield and to within three points of leaders Bristol City. Pencil-slim Johnson, under orders to get more iron into his blood, receives from chairman Derek Pavis each month a box of fresh vegetables. Now, the 18-year-old -known to his colleagues as Skello, because they feel he resembles a skeleton -is convinced he's beating his suspect stamina. Said Johnson: "I used to feel tired and dizzy in the last 20 minutes of games. I'm feeling much better now. When the manager asked me if I wanted to come off ten minutes from time at Mansfield, my reaction was not likely.

CLINCHED
"I wanted to stay on and try and get my first senior hat-trick. When the whistle went I was quite disappointed.' Johnson went on: "I'm taking vitamin pills and buying plenty of steaks. When Notts sent me to Lilleshall recently for a fitness assessment they said I needed more iron - and the chairman's greens are working a treat. "Mind you, though I would like to put more weight on my chest, I don't put on the pounds whatever I eat. The scales never seem to waver beyond 10 stones."
North-Eastener Johnson is in the throes of completing a six weeks endurance course with club physio David Wilson. "I don't train with the rest of the players on the first three days of the week, providing we've no mid-week game," added the talented striker, who heads County's scoring list with six goals. Johnson's two goals in the last 17 minutes clinched a fine second half comeback by the side after they had trailed 1-0 at half-time. He said of his second, a lovely left-foot curler into the bottom far corner: '"I saw that Mansfield goalkeeper Brian Cox had left a bit of a gap. The lads told me that Paul Barnes was waiting on the far post, but I had the sights on goal and, though it was a bad angle, I was determined I must put it in the net."

Notts' manager Neil Warnock said of the side's second away win of the season: "Mansfield shaded the first half and I had no complaints about their lead. But we played extremely well as a team and dominated the second half."

Stags assistant-manager Billy Dearden said: "They just penned us in our own half with long balls into the box and I'm disappointed we didn't defend a bit better after leading, although Johnson took his goals very well. But in the end it could have been four or five. Notts concentrated on closing us down, getting the ball into the box and winning the aerial battles, which they did. We gave too many free-kicks away near the halfway line. So every time we had got the ball away, we gave them another chance to send it back in."
Dearden explained the surprise decision to drop Ian Stringfellow for the first time this season and go with just two strikers and winger Ian Hathaway. “Playing three up front had been going well”, he said, “But we felt we were not getting to the by-line often enough to give Christie and Wilkinson proper service. The change worked well in the first half.”

Stags' £80,000 striker Steve Wilkinson who put his side ahead in the first half: "Yes, it was a nice feeling to score in a game as important as this. I just got enough on the header and it sharpened me up for the rest of the first half. But I hardly got a kick after that. We let ourselves down in the second half. Having said that, Notts played very well and really took the game by the scruff of the neck to get a result they deserved. It's difficult to put your finger on exactly what went wrong. Getting back on level terms early in the second half really lifted Notts. Perhaps, if we'd weathered the storm for the first ten minutes after the break it would have made a difference."

Up the Maggies footnote:
County's two previous visits to Field Mill had both ended in frustrating 1-1 draws, but this one was totally dominated by Notts in the 2nd half and they won it with ease. I was stood on the Quarry Lane end terrace towards the main stand end and had an excellent view of Stags player/manager George Foster (who all Notts fans hated) losing the ball on the right flank to Tommy Johnson who then scored a superb goal to put Notts 3-1 up. Notts fans also gave ex-Pie Trevor Christie some more stick regards his balding head, thankfully his reaction on this occasion was to take it in good humour which went some way to repair the damage he had done at Meadow Lane as a Walsall player (when he angrily gave the County Road fans the V sign!). Another ex-Pie, David Hunt, also lined up for the Stags at this fixture.
 

Notts County Season 1989/90
Up the Maggies home page