The Carlisle manager pulled no punches in his post match press conference following an inept Cumbrian performance, not helped by the absence of the suspended Richie Foran.

More was expected of a young, talented Mansfield side but they were reduced to playing their part in a forgettable afternoon of football seriously in danger of contravening the trade descriptions act.

Carlisle again failed to create many chances and saw the points slip away altogether on the back of a single error from unfortunate keeper Peter Keen.

Collins said after the game: “Please excuse the language but we were crap. We didn’t start particularly well but still looked comfortable enough. But it just highlights how important Richie Foran is to the team. We worked all week to create situations where other players will get you goals but we just don’t have that in the squad. We hoped to get something out of today and keep the momentum going but we were disjointed and off the pace of the game and just looked awful. The goal was unfortunate and self inflicted. When we went a goal down I thought we might just nick something but knew we were never going to score two to win the game. I will now be signing three players before the next home game, a midfield player, one wide left and a centre forward.”

To say the game started slowly was an understatement as those unfortunate to pay to watch this debacle had to wait 22 minutes before Mansfield finally got a shot on target, incidentally a Lee Williamson effort turned round the post by Keen.

A minute before Steve Halliday should have opened the scoring for the Cumbrians but failed to get any direction on a free header from Peter Murphy’s corner.

The winning goal came with 28 minutes gone in bizarre fashion. An innocuous Dave Rogers back pass presented Peter Keen with a comfortable clearance only for the keeper to slip and knock the ball to the feet of Mansfield’s top scorer. Chris Greenacre, not believing his luck, had the simple job of rounding the despairing Keen before slotting home his twelfth goal of the season.

Five minutes later Halliday made room cutting in from the left before curling a shot just over the Mansfield bar.

After the break Halliday again got himself into a good position only for Bobby Hassell to get across to make a saving tackle.

Keen then saved at full length to keep out a Danny Bacon header before Carlisle were reduced to ten men when Dave Rogers was sent off for a second yellow card following a scything tackle from behind on Greenacre.

Brendan McGill eventually got Carlisle’s first and only shot of the afternoon on target after 68 minutes. A sad statistic in a frustrating afternoon for all concerned. As a form of entertainment it will never replace football.

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