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Your support makes all the difference.Until four months ago Derby were in the Premiership and Mansfield in the Third Division, yet only in the final 20 minutes of a combustible first round Worthington Cup derby at Field Mill did any disparity between the East Midlands rivals became apparent last night.
Mansfield, having played with 10 men following the second-minute dismissal of Lee Williamson, actually took an early lead through Neil Moore's first goal for the club. Lee Morris levelled almost immediately, although disturbingly for Derby, they seldom looked like adding to Britain's worst defensive record until Malcolm Christie and Ian Evatt each converted a Paul Boertien cross after 71 and 78 minutes respectively.
When the teams met in July in a pre-season warm-up, a goalless game had to be abandoned because of a torrential downpour. This time the action was anything but friendly and a goal apiece in the opening 10 minutes threatened a deluge which never quite materialised.
With 80 seconds played, the Derby-born Williamson, Mansfield's captain, went over the top in a two-footed lunge on Adam Bolder. Above the ensuing fracas involving a scrum of players, Mr Danson's red card signalled a shame-faced exit.
Mansfield had conceded 22 goals in seven League fixtures but the 10 men shocked Derby with one of their own – their first in 372 minutes' play – after seven minutes. Wayne Corden's cross was turned back across goal by Iyseden Christie, enabling Moore to hook a close-range shot past Mart Poom.
Another Christie, the £5m-rated Malcolm, paved the way for Derby's equaliser three minutes later. His low ball in from the left gave Morris the chance to sidefoot a neat near-post goal.
Mansfield massed behind the ball when they lost possession, putting the onus on Derby to find greater width. Bolder headed wastefully high from Morris' 38th-minute cross, while Evatt, on for the injured Strupar, could not make the necessary contact with Malcolm Christie's centre as it flashed across goal early in the second half.
The large, restless Derby following vented their frustration by chanting against the chairman, Lionel Pickering. Jeers finally turned to cheers when Giorgi Kinkladze came on and their passing became crisper.
The Georgian's ball set up Boertien to cross for Malcolm Christie to fire home, and an Evatt header put the issue beyond doubt. On this evidence, however, John Gregory has his work cut out to shape Derby into a team capable of mounting a push for promotion.
Mansfield Town (4-5-1): Pilkington; Clarke, Reddington (A White, 72), Moore, Clark; Lawrence, Williamson, MacKenzie, Disley, Corden (Hurst, 89); I Christie (Bacon, 85). Substitutes not used: Holyoak, J White (gk).
Derby County (4-4-2): Poom; Barton (Hunt, 85), Riggott, Higginbotham, Boertien; O'Neil, Lee, Bolder (Kinkladze, 57), Morris; Strupar (Evatt, 26), M Christie. Substitutes not used: Twigg, Grant (gk).
Referee: P Danson (Leicester).
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