Lambe full of praise for side’s gritty win
Reggie Lambe notched his fourth goal of the season in Mansfield Town’s 2-1 victory away to Carlisle United in the Sky Bet League Two at Brunton Park on Saturday.
It was a weekend of mixed fortunes for Bermuda’s overseas professionals, with Nahki Wells having a quiet afternoon as Huddersfield Town conceded a goal deep into stoppage time in their 2-2 draw with Hull City in the Championship.
Rai Simons, meanwhile, did not even merit a place in the Chesterfield squad for their game away at Barnsley in League One, just a week after being named in the starting line-up for the win over Port Vale.
Lee Novak put Chesterfiekd ahead, nodding in Gboly Ariyibi’s cross, for his fourteenth goal of the season before Adam Hammill’s deflected equaliser.
Jamal Campbell-Ryce, the Chesterfield winger, was dismissed for two yellow cards, one for kicking the ball away, but Ollie Banks side-footed home to seal Chesterfield’s 2-1 win.
At Brunton Park, Lambe scored the visiting side’s second goal in the 62nd minute in his first start since returning from international duty for Bermuda in the Caribbean Cup last month. Colin Daniel had earlier put Mansfield in front in the 21st minute.
Tom Miller grabbed a consolation in stoppage time for Carlisle.
Afterwards, Lambe hailed his team’s grit and determination as well as stubborn defending that helped them to their ninth away win of the season and fifteenth overall.
“It’s a great effort from us, we pushed hard and we made sure we got the three points today,” he said. “Coming back into the team and getting a goal after being on international duty; that’s great for me and for the team.
“We stuck to the game plan very well and [I give] praise to everyone on the pitch to keep going for the 90 minutes and even when the subs came on, I think they did brilliantly as well.
“I think us trying to defend properly, staying on our feet and not giving away silly fouls [helped] — keeping the ball and attacking as a team as well; I think we did that very well today.”
Lambe, who scored Bermuda’s winner against French Guiana during the first round of the Caribbean Cup at the National Stadium last month, is now looking ahead to this Saturday’s home league derby with Notts County at the One Call Stadium.
“We’re going to go into training this week and we’re going to make sure we get a victory against our local rivals,” Lambe said. “We build it up very much, we want to be ‘on top of’ Notts County and get a win because they’re so close and they’re our rivals. We’re going to go into the game and know it’s a dogfight.”
In the Championship, Huddersfield were seconds from grabbing a valuable three points when Adama Diomande headed Hull level three minutes into time added on.
Jamie Paterson had put Huddersfield ahead five minutes before half-time, only for Abel Hernandez to level for Hull in the 76th minute.
Harry Maguire, the Hull defender, then headed the ball into his own net with 90 minutes on the clock to seemingly hand Huddersfield the points, before Diomande came to his side’s rescue.
Hull, who have now won just once in nine matches, are clinging on to their play-off place, while Huddersfield have dropped down to nineteenth, but are still nine points clear of the relegation zone.
“I am long enough in this business to know it is only over when the final whistle comes,” David Wagner, the Huddersfield head coach, said.
“We were a little bit unlucky, but that is part of the game.”