A 0-0 draw was fought out at Mansfield on Saturday in the first round of the FA Cup. It was a dire affair with little chances at either end but the best chance of the game for Athletic fell to Ricardo Fuller but he put his effort wide of the post.
Most fans that travelled to Field Mill were disappointed with the outcome but David Dunn was upbeat and said, “I suppose we are in the hat for the next round at the minute so it’s not too bad. Positives to take from the game? I thought the lads worked really hard and we worked hard right until the end."
"We had to shuffle the pack a bit with some suspensions and injuries we have picked up recently which isn’t ideal coming to a team who is flying in their respective league. I don’t think we were great with the ball today and we’ve got to be better in possession. Without making excuses, we have four, five or six players out the team that would probably feature so to stay in the hat is relatively okay.”
“Brian Wilson was arguably the best player on the pitch. I thought Tim Dieng coming in at centre back, who hasn’t played a lot of football recently, was fantastic as well. We huffed and puffed in difficult conditions and it wasn’t the most entertaining game I’ve seen, that’s for sure. They (Mansfield) are a tough side. They work their socks off for each other and we will have to put the same commitment and desire into what we did today."