Flitcroft furious as Mansfield are denied late equaliser at Oldham

Posted Tuesday, April 23, 2019 by PA

Mansfield boss David Flitcroft was furious with the match officials after his promotion-chasing side fell to a controversial 3-2 defeat at Oldham.

The Stags’ Danny Rose had a goal ruled out for offside with virtually the last kick of the game, but replays suggested it was the wrong decision.

Oldham had gone ahead just before the half-hour mark through Gevaro Nepocumeno, who then claimed an assist when Mohamed Maouche doubled their lead after 56 minutes.

Mansfield replied through Tyler Walker, only for Nepomuceno to impressively slam home his second.

Neal Bishop made it 3-2 in the 76th minute and Mansfield thought they were level in stoppage time, but the flag went up when Rose volleyed in.

Flitcroft’s side remain in the automatic promotion places, but he said: “I’ve seen the replays and Danny was onside.

“The linesman wasn’t up with play. He was half a yard short and panicked under pressure – he guessed.

“I thought 3-3 would have been a just result and it would have been a brilliant end to a committed, passionate match from both sides.

“We were more open than usual and Oldham, to their credit, could have scored a couple more. We had to chase the game, but we deserved a point at the end and we should have had one.

“We looked edgy in the first half, but we gave it a massive go and went for the jugular.

“I haven’t said a lot to the players yet because emotions were running high in the dressing room, but we will regroup and be ready for the next game.

“Credit to the players because they never stopped believing. We are still right in the mix and our destiny is in our own hands.”

Oldham have an outside chance of reaching the play-offs and head coach Pete Wild said: “It’s great that our season continues.

“We’ve got Exeter away next, which is a big game because they are above us, but we’ve got nothing to lose.

“We will go down there and express ourselves. If we are good enough, the result will look after itself.

“My teams always play positively and that won’t change. You could see from this performance that we are a team who aim to score goals.

“It turned into a basketball match too early, with the play going from end to end, but Mansfield are the best team in this league and we had to dig deep.

“They carry such a threat going forward, but the supporters could see the effort we were putting in.

“It was a really good game of football and, if their goal should have stood at the end…it’s about time we had a bit of luck.”