With the festive season in full swing, Mansfield gave the fans at Eakring Road an early Christmas present with a dominant victory over a visiting Sleaford side this past Saturday. This was the last home league game before the Christmas break which means, in all competitions, the blue-and-whites are undefeated at home so far this season. This victory saw more consistency from the home team and they have taken what has been working in previous weeks and continue to refine it. With 10 tries scored and a full five points taken away, while keeping the visitors scoreless, this was a perfect way to cap off what has been a brilliant first half of the season.

Head coach Anthony Jones was hoping this consistency would be here to stay: ‘I thought we looked really unified out there, all on the same page and working well as a unit.’

The home team have managed to build on the promises and potential of previous seasons and now turn them into actual deliverances. They are strong in defence, demonstrated by the waves of pressure they were able to soak up and the lack of points by the opposition, despite multiple attempts. They are more unified in attack, smarter about when and when not to offload, and using the full width of the pitch to stretch the opposition. They have used the natural undulations of the pitch more to their advantage, especially when pinning their opponents back in their own half. In close games, they keep the points ticking over whenever they have the chance. Are they infallible? No, of course not, but whereas previous years may have seen the unity begin to fragment and the cohesion come unstuck, that has not happened this year and the proof has very much been in the pudding, this week’s being a fruity Christmas one.

This all means that there’s been a growing confidence in the performances week on week and it should be no surprise that the tries here came from all areas and from both forwards and backs. Power from the set piece, relentless pick-ups and drives, speed from the backline, missed passes and line breaks saw Anthony Symcox, Ollie Avison, Taran Elms, Reece Flowers-Lane, Alfie Russell and Danny Spencer all claim tries on the team’s way to victory. Sam Blackwell and Rio Turner grabbed a brace each as the blue-and-whites dominated, keeping the scoreboard active whenever possible. Elms converted eight from the tee to bring the final score to 66-0.

To their credit, Sleaford never stopped, prodding and poking whenever they could and towards the end of the game creating some real problems for the home team at the restarts. However, they were unable to break through a truly committed defence and became their own worst enemy at times, losing two players to the sin bin in the second half, making an already difficult job even harder. Mansfield were able to control the ball well and utilise both their strength in the scrum and the pace out wide. This was no more present than with matchday sponsor Mayo Engineering Ltd’s player of the match, Alfie Russell, who was everywhere all afternoon. With one more league game to play before the Christmas break, the blue-and-whites have the chance to really slam the door on an almost perfect opening half to the season and then the opportunity to pick up where they left off in the New Year.