The Irow Show: Mansfield 3-0 Port Vale

Report from the One Call Stadium as Mansfield put on a second half show to defeat lowly Valiants. 

Nigel Clough's Mansfield Town made it four consecutive league wins and clean sheets with a 3-0 victory over League One's bottom club Port Vale this afternoon.

19-year old Tottenham loanee Oliver Irow starred on his Mansfield debut, scoring two goals either side of a Will Evans strike.

The victory puts The Stags within four points of the play-off places and leaves Jon Brady's Port Vale 11 points adrift of safety.

‘Jon's teams are right at it and will be right up for it’, were the words of the Mansfield boss in midweek, speaking about his opposite number in the Port Vale dugout. Today, for the game's opening 45 minutes, Clough was strongly vindicated.

The away side came flying out the blocks, with Devante Cole and George Hall leading the press from the front. Mansfield's Baily Cargill and Stephen McLaughlin, who were evidently struggling to deal with the pace and power of Hall down their left-hand side,  hauled him down twice in the opening quarter of an hour. 

 Vale's early momentum was threatened just five minutes in, however, as captain George Byers suffered an injury that would bring a premature end to his afternoon. The former Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea midfielder was unable to continue after a challenge involving Mansfield’s Evans. Byers was replaced by Funso Ojo in a like-for-like central midfield swap, giving the Belgian his 13th appearance of this campaign.

The game's first real flashpoint came after a quarter of an hour. Jordan Shipley found Cole unmarked, in acres of space on the edge of the 18-yard box.  Port Vale's no.44 curled a well-struck shot towards the near corner, leaving Liam Roberts rooted to the spot. But fortunately for Roberts, Cole's effort would ricochet back off the post and be cleared to safety, preventing the striker from notching his seventh league goal of the campaign.

Respite was only brief for the hosts, as Vale created another huge opening shortly after. Shipley again managed to find space in behind Deji Oshilaja and advanced into the box relatively unchallenged. Opting to go for goal himself, Shipley could only fire into the side-netting, prompting a lengthy stare from Cole who probably had a tap-in, had the ball been squared.

 Hall, who is still in search of his first Port Vale goal since signing in the summer, remained at the heart of everything positive for Brady's men. Just before halftime his directness brought the game's first booking, with Cargill seeing no other option than to cynically bring him down on halfway as the forward attempted to break.

The visitors were firmly in the ascendency with the interval approaching and will feel they should have been in front again when Dajaune Brown was released in-behind by a deft, disguised pass from Cole. With the goal at his mercy, Brown could only fire into the onrushing Roberts, who ensured that the two sides entered the break goalless. 

Brady would certainly have been the more content of the two managers, with his side boasting the lion's share of both possession and clear-cut chances.

But the second half would play out exactly as the proverbial footballing 'tale of two halves' tells. 
 

Clough introduced two of his January loan signings in Jon Russell and Irow for the second 45, reverting to a more conventional four-man defense. This saw Lucas Akins drop into a right-back position, with Louis Reed, Aaron Lewis and Russell making up the midfield.

At 6ft 4in, Russell gave Mansfield an imperious midfield presence that was missing in the first period. His industry presented Rhys Oates the chance to surge towards the Vale box and lash a shot which Ben Amos could only parry and present Irow with a chance that he simply could not miss. Merely 10 minutes into his first senior appearance, the highly-rated Tottenham youngster had his first senior goal.

And now the Stags were not in the mood to let up. Minutes later, just shy of the hour mark, they were deep into Vale territory once more. A strong carry forward from Russell allowed Irow the chance to cross from the left-hand side. His centre was too deep for everyone but Oates, who shot tamely towards Amos. To the dismay of those who had made the journey from Staffordshire, Amos could again only push out into the six-yard box, where Will Evans gladly bundled home his sixth league goal of the season and increased the deficit to two.

If you hadn't heard of Oliver Irow before today, you most likely will do now. With just over 25 minutes remaining, the Westminster-born winger was in something of a 'flowstate', unerringly rolling the ball beneath his soles and gliding toward Vale's back four at every opportunity. It was Ben Heneghan who could only watch and admire as Irow cut inside before curling an outrageous effort into the top right corner of Amos' net, putting the gloss on a stylish second half showing from the home side. A goal that will have got people talking in both North Nottinghamshire and North London.

As if that wasn't enough of an advert for the young man's capabilities, he then decided to take a high Port Vale cross down in a year 2000, France vs. Denmark, Zinedine Zidane-esque fashion, and glide away with casual mastery. Fantastic.

With the away end now half-full, the confidence had drained from Brady's men on the pitch, too. Hall received a pass from Clark, turned and returned it back to his teammate in a manner that could be construed as resigning to the game's impending outcome. You couldn't help but think that, had Hall been in the same position before halftime, he'd have made a beeline for McLaughlin and continued causing problems for Mansfield's left-back.

Mansfield's PA system announced Irow as the game's man of the match with just minutes to play, which was simultaneously met by choruses of 'he's in your head, Irow', to the tune of The Cranberries, "Zombie". The new signing could not have possibly done more to endear himself to the Field Mill faithful.

Among the away fans that remained beyond the final whistle, pockets of discontent were both audible and visible. Some had advanced as far as the advertising hoardings to gesticulate towards the players and staff. Brady could be seen engaged in a brief although animated discussion with some of the main protagonists, before retreating down the tunnel.

Here is what he had to say about the encounter post-match:

It is a result that keeps Clough's Mansfield firmly in the play-off hunt, now just four points behind sixth-placed Bolton Wanderers. On the other side of the coin, it means that Port Vale remain rooted at the foot of League One, with any faint hopes of survival diminishing by the week.

The Stags look forward to a trip to Hertfordshire next week, where their promotion credentials will be fully tested against Alex Revell's Stevenage. Vale host Exeter City who, like Mansfield, find themselves in a rich vein of form and looking towards the top six.

Mansfield Town: Roberts, Akins, Oshilaja, Sweeney, Cargill (Russell, 46'), McLaughlin, Lewis, Reed (Hendry, 86'), Oates (Bolton, 76'), Evans (Adeboyejo, 76'), Moriah-Welsh (Irow, 46')

Port Vale: Amos, Clark (Lawrence-Gabriel, 63'), Heneghan, Humphreys, Headley (Gordon, 87'), Byers (Ojo, 14'), Croasdale (Waine, 63'), Shipley, Brown (Stockley, 63'), Hall, Cole

Attendance: 8,364