In a bid to get some playing time under his belt Reggie Lambe turned out for the Mansfield Reserves as they succumbed to a 5-1 defeat to a slick and impressive Derby County in the opening match of the Final Third Development League Cup (Group Stages).
Mansfield, who fielded several youth internationals – including Ivan Calero who is on loan from last season’s Champions League finalists Atletico Madrid, were impressive throughout.
Omar Mascarell, Jeff Hendrick, Max Lowe and two from Kwame Thomas, were the goalscorers for Derby, whilst Lambe got the Mansfield consolation on the stroke of half-time.
However, the most worrying aspect of the evening came with 15 minutes remaining when playmaker Fergus Bell went off with what appeared to be a recurrence of his recent shoulder injury.
After a very tentative opening quarter-of-an-hour, Mansfield created a good opening on 17 minutes when Ollie Palmer threaded a perfect pass from midway inside the Derby half through to the feet of Alex Fisher, whose powerful attempt deflected wide off Farrewd Rawson.
Derby soon began to apply pressure down at the other end and soon won their first corner as Jack Koczalski headed the ball behind at the near-post following some good build up play down the right flank between Alfie Santos and Luke Hendrie.
And it was from the subsequent that Derby opened the scoring.
Hendrie whipped the ball in deep and beyond the back-post towards Calero, who had peeled off into empty space. The Spanish Under 19 international, on loan at the iPro Stadium from Atletico Madrid, headed the ball back across goal – leaving Kwame Thomas with the easiest of tasks from just a yard out.
Although chances were at an absolute premium, Derby were enjoying some success breaking forward down the right flank, and they squandered a golden opportunity on 30 minutes.
Hendrie provided another good delivery into the head of the area, and although an unmarked Thomas made a good connection with the ball, the England youngster couldn’t find the target with a header.
Mansfield responded with an opportunity of their own on 34 minutes when Palmer ran at a back-peddling Derby defender, before unleashing a low drive goalwards, which was held by Mitchell.
Nevertheless, the more illustrious visitors unsurprisingly saw more of the ball and doubled their lead seven minutes before the break, when Omar Mascarell’s low 25-yard free-kick went straight through a four man defensive wall and beat Sascha Studer at his near-post.
With Derby looking the more likely team to add to the score-line, Mansfield surprisingly pulled a goal back on the stroke of half-time. Fergus Bell’s great cross from the left channel found Lambe inside the area, and the Bermuda international had time to guide the ball home and set up an intriguing second half.
Derby continued to play, quick, attacking football after the re-start and came within inches of restoring a two-goal cushion as Hendrick played an inviting cross through the area. Thomas gambled and went sliding in, but the ball carried just too much pace and went beyond him.
However, less than four minutes later, Thomas had reason to celebrate as he peeled off the shoulder of Conor Green to meet Lee Naylor’s inch-perfect defense-splitting pass from the opposite flank, and hammered the ball into the roof of the net from only a couple of yards out.
The floodgates looked as if they might be about to open as Derby soon found the target again – this time as Calero provided a simple pass towards the edge of the area for Hendrick, who slid the ball low into the bottom-right corner, beyond a full-stretch Studer.
It was pretty much one-way traffic for much of the second half and Lowe eventually made it 5-1 with a quarter-of-an-hour left to play when he thundered home a close-range shot after Thomas headed down a long left-wing ball into the area by Naylor.
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