Wrexham have taken a big step towards promotion by beating Mansfield Town – but not without a slice of controversy along the way.
Friday’s clash at the STōK Cae Ras saw Wrexham host Mansfield Town in a huge top-of-the-table clash.
Mansfield were League Two leaders heading into the game, three points ahead of Wrexham.
A win for Phil Parkinson’s side would have been huge – and that’s exactly what we saw.
Paul Mullin tapped home Wrexham’s opener from an Andy Cannon cross after Max Cleworth had dissected Mansfield’s left flank with a superb pass.
Mullin made it 2-0 after the break, hammering a powerful penalty straight down the middle to wrap up all three points.
We can’t talk about the penalty without highlighting the controversy which came with it as Luke Bolton was brought down on his way to goal.
Replays have since shown that Bolton was clearly outside of the penalty area when hauled down.
Mansfield are understandably frustrated with that decision and boss Nigel Clough has now delivered his take…
Nigel Clough on Wrexham penalty controversy
Clough has seen his side go from top of the league to second and now level on points with Wrexham.
That is not what any manager wants to see and Clough has been left even more disappointed because of that controversial penalty decision.
Clough has now spoken to Mansfield’s official YouTube channel, sharing his disappointment that the referee gave the penalty and that the assistant referee didn’t advise him to overturn the decision.
Clough added that he spoke to referee Lewis Smith after the game and asked if he was absolutely sure that the Bolton incident was a penalty.
Smith responded by saying that he was completely sure that Bolton was inside the box, with Clough simply adding ‘he’s wrong’ on that front.
“Very, very disappointing and I’m disappointed in the assistant as well, because he’s looking right across it from a close point to the referee and a better angle as well,” said Clough. “He should be telling the referee. I asked the referee ‘are you absolutely certain’ he said ‘I’m 100% certain, it’s inside the area’ after the game. He’s wrong.”
We have seen rival fans on social media suggesting that referees favour Wrexham and that is the reason for the penalty being given.
Anybody watching Wrexham games this season will know that this just isn’t true and that it was just an honest mistake on this occasion.
Phil Parkinson won’t be complaining and neither will Wrexham fans with promotion to League One moving into focus.
Mansfield will be gutted but the Stags are still in a great position to secure promotion themselves and there is a real chance that both they and Wrexham end up in the third tier next season.