The Latics overcame their potential banana skin and beat Mansfield Town 2-0 on Tuesday to set up an appetising trip to Sheffield United in round two of the FA Cup. Danny Philliskirk and Dominic Poleon repeated their joint double, they both scored in the victory at Chesterfield, to send the lowly crowd home happy on a miserable night at Boundary Park. Only 1,893 supporters turned up to witness the win.
David Dunn was full of praise and was happy with the shut-out. He said, “Danny has got a knack and anticipates things in the box. It is no surprise. He does it every day in training. It was a great finish from Dominic and the build-up play was good, too. Mark Yeates was a threat and he managed to get his head up and pull the ball back. When people were probably thinking 'have a shot,' Philly lays it off with that bit of quality and the finish was very good, too. We look forward to going to Bramall Lane. It is a really big club and all our players should be excited about going there and trying to perform in front of a lot of people. Of course, I am happy with the win and the two goals. But I am as happy with the clean sheet. The more clean sheets you get, being hard to beat, the more wins will follow. That is what I have tried to do from day one.”
“They were such difficult conditions, but the lads stuck to the game plan very well. The first half was very tight and Mansfield will have quite fancied coming up here and giving us a really good game. We had a lot of possession in the first half, but didn't really penetrate. Our build-up play was okay but it was a bit slow – and when a team comes and sits back you have to move the ball quickly. We didn't do that too well in the first half, but the second half was much better. We were a bit more direct and looked a threat all over the pitch. I don't think people realise how bad those conditions can be. Not just the wind and rain, but even the new ball we were playing with. It is difficult – it's like a balloon out there. We handled it very well.”