Bristol Rovers 1 Mansfield Town 3

Last updated : 02 October 2003 By Footymad Previewer

Midfielder Craig Disley struck twice as Mansfield ran out 3-1 winners against Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium.

However, the star of the show for the visitors was striker Junior Mendes, who opened the scoring on ten minutes and went on to give Rovers defence the run around.

Poor defending allowed Mendes room to find the top corner of the net from 18 yards and from then on the result was never in doubt.

Four minutes later Mendes’ run and pass set up Disley, who moved into the penalty area before burying a low angled shot.

Rovers were inept in the first 45 minutes and barely featured as an attacking force.

They might have gone further behind on the half hour when Tony Vaughan's header was cleared of the line by Lee Hodges.

It was a short lived reprieve as Liam Lawrence was just off target with a free kick before Mansfield inevitably extended their advantage.

On 41 minutes Mendes attracted three defenders towards the ball and left Disley in yards of space to his left to net with the aid of a deflection that sent his shot looping over Kvein Miller.

It was almost 4-0 five minutes into the second half when a Lawrence free kick was flicked on and the ball rebounded of a post.

Hodges did have the ball in the net for Rovers just before that incident, but his effort was ruled out for handball.

Mansfield were content to defend their lead in the second half and did so with ease until injury time when Luke Dimech was rightly penalised for a clear handball offence inside the box.

Paul Tait tucked away the resulting penalty for his sixth goal of the season, but it was far too late to save Rovers from a convincing defeat.