Mansfield – Cambridge, English Division 3
2004-04-03 16.00 CET
Pick: Mansfield
Stake: 3%
Odds: 1,67
Final reason for bet
· Mansfield has come back to winning ways with a moral boosting win over Torquay.
· Mansfield has got back the positive feeling in the squad after some negative weeks.
· Cambridge has been out of form lately especially on the road.
General comment about the game
Promotion chasing Mansfield looks forward to welcome struggling Cambridge to a Saturday clash in the English division three. Mansfield is on the sixth spot in the table for the moment and after being out of form they are now filled with optimism. In midweek they played Torquay at home, in a game that ended 2-1 for the home team. The game set of in a high tempo and already after five minutes Mansfield was up 1-0. The second goal for Mansfield came only a few minutes later and already after 17 minutes the result was 2-1. The game then continued with both teams having some good chances without managing to score. In the second half Torquay was the more dominant side but they were unable to score although they had one ball in the net that was ruled out because of offside. In injury time it really looked as the game would end 2-2 but a Mansfield defender saved the ball on the goal line. The Mansfield coach said that this was one of the most important games to win this season and now they are really in the promotion rally. Mansfield has a nearly fully fit squad. Only players who are missing is defender Adam Eaton who has only played one game this season and then has been struggling with injury; and forward Laurent D’Jaffo (4 apps) who came to the club in the beginning of March.
Cambridge has been in a bad period for a while now, which has forced them to change coach. The new coach is former Cameroon and Senegal head coach Claude Le Roy. Le Roy still works in France but his co-assistant Herve Renard is in Cambridge and runs the trainings. Cambridge is the worst home team in the league but on they road they reside on spot number four. The division 3 is dominated by many strong home teams and therefore being on a high position in the away table does not mean you win lot of away games. For the moment Cambridge has only taken one win on the road from the last five games. The other games were losses. The game they won was away to Darlington and ended 4-3. Many of the Cambridge goals were made after easy mistakes by the Darlington defenders. The result does not represent how the teams played; Darlington was the better side, apart of those mistakes. Last weekend Cambridge played at home against Cheltenham. Cheltenham who has one of the worst defences in the league did not feel fully aware of the game starting, and already after 10 minutes the home side were up 2-0. The second goal came from the penalty spot. After the energetic start the tempo was lowered and Cheltenham put the home team under some pressure without being able to score. But in the end of the second half Cheltenham finally was rewarded and with only one goal up it was 20 nervous minutes for the Cambridge fans in the end of the game. Cambridge got some minor injuries in the last game but all players should be fully fit for the away clash. The new manager will not be present but Mr Renard will handle the manager roll.
Mansfield won over strong Torquay after a good football game. And with the positive feelings and also the positive play in the draws prior that we believe that Mansfield is back in the winning line again. Medium stake 3% is suggested.
Recent games for home team
|
2004-03-30 |
Mansfield-Torquay |
2-1 |
|
2004-03-27 |
Yeovil-Mansfield |
1-1 |
|
2004-03-23 |
Mansfield-Swansea |
1-1 |
|
2004-03-20 |
Mansfield-Oxford |
0-0 |
|
2004-03-16 |
Bury-Mansfield |
3-0 |
Recent games for away team
|
2004-03-27 |
Cambridge-Cheltenham |
2-1 |
|
2004-03-20 |
Torquay-Cambridge |
3-0 |
|
2004-03-16 |
Cambridge-Boston |
0-1 |
|
2004-03-13 |
Darlington-Cambridge |
3-4 |
|
2004-03-06 |
Cambridge-Northampton |
0-1 |
Home table
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Mansfield |
19 |
12 |
4 |
3 |
37-18 |
40 |
Away table
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Cambridge |
19 |
7 |
5 |
7 |
25-30 |
26 |
Links for this game
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// SportsObserver 040402
