AFC
Mansfield had to settle for winning two out of the three cup finals
they were in.
With a very small squad of players they were running on
empty and carrying several knocks and after 18 minutes were reduced to
10 men.
A second bookable offence by Jammy Meehan could not be argued
with and it made things very difficult for The Bulls.
However after going
down to 10 AFC appeared to play better and get top side of their
opponents and went in 0-0 at half time.
The same could be said of the
second half but Clifton were awarded a penalty and all looked
lost.
Keeper Dale Sheppard had other outcomes in his mind and made a
world class save getting a full hand on a clean strike just under the
bar to his right.
This seemed to spur on The Bulls and injured striker
Carl Haslam was thrown into the fray to try
and snatch a win.
He very nearly did that after breaking down the left
and forcing the keeper to push the ball onto the post from a tight
angle.
It wasn't to be a little later after leading striker Dean Rick was
shown a red card for kicking the ball away after being pushed out of
play by a Clifton player.
Once reduced to 9 men it was all too much to
ask for a tired team and during injury time Clifton grabbed the cup with
a late goal.
It was a good game for the neutral with a noisy Clifton
following and plenty of banter in the crowd but you had to feel sorry
for the AFC side that gave their all for the cause and very nearly
pulled it off.
The Bulls should be proud of the efforts put in by all and
will strive for bigger and better things in the future.
PROUD TO BE A BULL !
