Lewis Brunt’s 64th minute equaliser secured a point for league leaders Mansfield Town at home to Colchester United in a hard-fought encounter this afternoon.
The defender coolly tapped the ball home following a corner to cancel out Harry Anderson’s 12th minute opener.
Stags remain top of the league, five points clear of second placed Stockport ahead of the Hatters’ match against MK Dons at 5.15pm later today.
Nigel Clough named an unchanged side from the team that beat Bradford 5-1 last weekend. Last season’s Player of the Season, Elliott Hewitt, returned to the Mansfield bench after recovering from an ACL injury sustained last April.
Following an evenly contested opening, Stags crafted the game’s first opportunity on three minutes. After Lewis Brunt impressively dispossessed Colchester winger Jayden Fevrier to spark a counter-attack, forward Lucas Akins teed up Hiram Boateng on the edge of the box who blasted narrowly over with his side foot.
Having endured a period of Stags’ pressure, Colchester took the lead on 12 minutes. Fevrier’s guided cross into the box from the left was touched into the path of Harry Anderson by Tom Hopper. The wing-back showed clever feet before smashing a low effort across goal and into the bottom left corner.
Mansfield responded by dictating possession and came close to creating a number of chances in the period after Anderson’s opener.
On 28 minutes, a well-flighted Stephen Quinn cross picked out Davis Keillor-Dunn inside the box, but the forward steered his cushioned header narrowly wide from 10 yards.
A minute before the break Mansfield were in through Will Swan after a heavy touch from a Colchester man. The forward advanced into the box, took the ball wide left and forced Owen Goodman into a strong one-on-one save.
The visitors continued to pose a threat on the counter-attack after the break as former Mansfield Academy product Alistair Smith found space to turn and shoot narrowly wide on 53 minutes following a swift attack down Stags’ right.
The hosts continued to cause problems in the final third and came close to an equaliser through Keillor-Dunn on 56 minutes. Clever interplay between him and Bowery on the left played the attacker into the box, and Keillor-Dunn’s shot was denied by a last-gasp Jay Mingi block.
Six minutes later, Stags were denied again by Goodman who tipped Baily Cargill’s header around the post after being found by another excellent Quinn cross.
The subsequent corner dropped inside the Colchester box and a goalmouth scramble ensued with Brunt emphatically edging the ball over the line to equalise for Mansfield.
The hosts were forced into a change on 70 minutes after Cargill sustained an injury as Stephen McLaughlin replaced him at left back.
The visitors collected two cautions in as many minutes on 74 and 75 as Samson Tovide clattered into Louis Reed before Hopper arrived in late on McLaughlin.
With Mansfield camped inside the Colchester half, the visitors almost retook the lead on 83 minutes through another quick attack up field. A long forward ball was played into U’s striker Tovide, who gathered and let fly from outside the box, forcing Pym to tip the ball onto the post with a crucial diving save.
Three minutes later, Arthur Read’s corner ball settled nicely for substitute Ellis Iandolo inside the box, who looped a header towards the top left corner, only to be superbly denied again by Pym.
Two minutes later Ollie Clarke crafted a fine opening for Stags, playing a quick cross into the Colchester box from the right. The ball settled nicely for Swan who seemed to be felled as he coiled to shoot, with no award of a penalty.
In the end, Mansfield were forced to settle for a point at One Call Stadium but remain at the summit of Sky Bet League Two.
STAGS: Pym, Bowery, Flint, Brunt, Cargill (McLaughlin 71’), Reed, Boateng (Clarke 71’), Quinn, Keillor-Dunn, Akins, Swan (Nichols 90+1’).
UNUSED SUBS: Flinders, Hewitt, Lewis, Gale.
COLCHESTER: Goodman, Mingi, Dallison, Hall, Anderson, Smith, Read, Fevrier (Chilvers 90’), McGeehan, Ihionvien (Tovide 58’), Hopper (Iandolo 79’)
UNUSED SUBS: Hornby, Harbottle, Jay, Akinde.
REFEREE: Simon Mather
ATTENDANCE: 7,517 (248 away)
