Lawless out to end Mansfield hoodoo

HATTERS midfielder Alex Lawless is out to end his personal hoodoo at Mansfield in Town’s FA Trophy semi-final first leg tie on Sunday afternoon, writes Mike Simmonds.

The 28-year-old has never won at Field Mill in his career, losing 3-0 twice when at Torquay and Forest Green Rovers, before a 5-0 hammering while as a York player earlier this season.

Lawless said: “I’ve never won at Mansfield, it’s probably not even worth thinking about how many times.

“It has been unfortunate, we’ve had players sent off.

“It’s an extra impetus for me to go there and get rid of that hoodoo, especially in a game like this.

“Instead of thinking, oh no, I’d like to think, let’s put it right.”

Although the match has been moved to Sunday under police advice, Town boss Richard Money insisted he is still taking the competition very seriously, despite Cambridge United away in the league on Tuesday night, taking priority. He said: “It’s more than a break from the league, it’s a very important cup competition for the club.

“We desperately want to get to Wembley, make no mistake about it and we’re going to try and do everything we can to make that happen.

“But I’ve always got to have one eye on our league status and Sunday and Tuesday doesn’t help us when there is no need in my view.”

Lawless was a surprise inclusion for Hatters’ 2-0 victory over Tamworth on Tuesday night, having missed the last two games with a hip injury suffered at Guiseley.

He said: “I’ve been struggling since last week. It was getting on my nerves a bit. I’ve been trying and trying, but it’s just one of those things where you can’t really do a lot except for wait.

“On Monday I did a bit of work and it’s all fine and then when you’re asked to start, no-one complains about that.”

Money was also not expecting the midfielder to play, but was delighted to give him a recall, adding: “He had a good session with the physio on Monday and we discussed it and decided to put him back in.

“He gives us that extra dimension and makes the balance of the midfield between defence and offence, a lot more balanced. We lost (Andy) Drury which is something that we didn’t want to do. People like Alex Lawless are very important. He can pick the clever pass and create something that Drury used to do for us.”