Day 96

The Under 18s lost to Chesterfield in the Under 18s Cup—no doubt in large part to a red card in the 27th minute. That knocks them out of the competition at the Second Round. Shame they won't get any more cup experience this season, but that's otherwise no big deal.

We played Southport in the league today. I put new loan signing Michael Richardson on the bench—I don't want to throw him in the deep end after just a day at the club. Christophe returned to the starting eleven after two weeks out with a damaged elbow. Atkinson dropped out to make way for the Frenchman. With Russell injured, I had no choice but to bring Ansah back in on the left wing. We kept the same back four that's been holding steady for most of the season.

Disaster struck in the 3rd minute when Ansah went down injured. With no specialist left wingers available, I had a tough decision to make. Matthew Park could do a decent job, but he was still recovering from yesterday's Reserves friendly and I doubted he would last the 86 minutes. Nialle Rodney is rated at "awkward" for playing on either wing. Shuker is a "competent" left winger, while Koroma is a "competent" right winger.

I opted to shuffle things around. Rodney came in, and slotted up front. Shuker switched flanks. Koroma dropped to the right wing and took on the role of inside forward. I prayed it would work out.

It appeared that we'd be fine. Barnes-Homer linked up with Rodney in the 10th minute, then went charging through the Southport defence before belting a strike past the keeper and into the roof of the net. It was one of the best goals I've seen this season. Brilliant stuff.

Two minutes later, a Barnes-Homer long ball put Koroma and Rodney on the break in a two-on-two matchup. The Southport defenders did just enough to concede a corner rather than a goal.

An excellent run and cross from Koroma should have doubled our lead on 23 minutes, but Barnes-Homer's header sailed way over the bar. No matter, as Gowling converted a Shuker corner with a close-range header in the 26th minute.

We were unlucky not to add a third in the 33rd minute. Nutter's looping cross was flicked goalwards by Barnes-Homer. Nemes dived to his left to make the save, but could only parry the ball into the path of Rodney. Rodney's shot rebounded off the defender trying to protect the goal-line, then off Barnes-Homer and back to the defender—who cleared the danger.

Rodney blew another chance to make it 3-0 in the 50th minute, shooting straight into the keeper after a lofted through ball put him in a one-on-one.

I had an eye to the midweek fixture coming up against Fleetwood, so Power made way for Richardson on 55 minutes. Park came on for Shuker in the 78th minute, moments after Richardson nearly scored a cracking long-range effort on his debut.

Two-nil is how it finished. Gowling earned man of the match for a strong all-round performance. Barnes-Homer, Marques, and Bore also impressed. The only negatives were Ansah's injury—out for four-to-five weeks—and that we didn't win by more.

And Mansfield lost, so we closed the gap to two points. Awesome.

Now I have to think fast about the left wing problem. Olembé's still away, Ansah's out, Russell's out. That leaves Park, Nicolau, or Shuker playing out of position. Or I could try to sign Burgess.