Cardiff City 0-0 Mansfield Town
- Published
Highlights: Cardiff 0-0 Mansfield
Championship side Cardiff City were held to a goalless draw by League Two Mansfield in the FA Cup third round.
With a crowd of only 6,378 at the 33,000-capacity Cardiff City Stadium, the hosts had the better chances in a scrappy first half.
Mansfield had a golden chance to score after the break when Lee Angol's close-range shot was saved by Brian Murphy.
The Stags, who last reached the fourth round in 2008, will host Cardiff in a replay in the week starting 15 January.
It is safe to say Cardiff - FA Cup runners-up in 2008 and winners in 1927 - have not been charmed by the old romance of this competition in recent seasons.
This was the fourth year in succession they had been drawn at home in the third round and the previous attendances were dire: 5,199 against Fulham in 2017, 4,782 against Shrewsbury in 2016 and 4,194 against Colchester in 2015 - a record low for football games at the Cardiff City Stadium.
At least half the ground was closed on this occasion and many of the available areas sparsely populated, making for another insipid atmosphere despite the boisterous efforts of a large travelling contingent of Mansfield fans.
The Stags, sixth in League Two, did not seem overawed by their Championship opponents, who had lost their last four, but it was the hosts who created the most promising chances.
Callum Paterson was the first to test Mansfield goalkeeper Conrad Logan, who was then twice called into action to deny Rhys Healey's powerful strike and a header from Sean Morrison, Cardiff's captain returning from injury.
Although Logan was busy at the end of the first half, the visitors were not overly troubled and, after the interval, they grew into the game and created chances of their own.
Alex MacDonald's 20-yard effort curled narrowly wide and, with an hour gone, Angol had a fine opportunity from eight yards but saw his shot saved by Murphy.
Former Swansea winger Paul Anderson, now playing at right-back for Mansfield, also found himself clean through on goal, only for his shot to be blocked by Junior Hoilett.
The visitors were almost undone in injury time when their centre-back Krystian Pearce inadvertently headed the ball towards his own net, but Logan made a brilliant save low to his left.
On the replay and fourth round draw, Cardiff boss Neil Warnock said: "It'll be a decent game. They've got a decent team. They've got pace, power, probably a decent budget for that division.
"They deserved the replay and good luck to them. Depending on the draw, we'll put a strong team out.
"If it's a bad draw, we'll put the kids out! We'll have to see."
Warnock added: "I thought the game served its purpose today. We've had so many problems, with [Joe] Rallsy pulling out and [Sol] Bamba with a sickness bug. You've got [Joe] Bennett who wasn't going to play and he's ended up playing the full game.
"[Sean] Morrison coming back was a massive plus. He's not felt anything which is fabulous because they were talking about another two weeks, the medical people.
"We had to play a bit of a mix and match in the midfield area and I just felt we lacked a bit up front. You're only as good as your front three and we're struggling. It's a bit like extracting teeth at the minute."
Mansfield Town manager Steve Evans said: "I don't think there's many teams who'll play against Cardiff City who will come and play 4-4-2. We played that system because we believe we've got good players. We've not got players of the quality Cardiff have got, but we wanted to get hold of the football and play.
"I think we're unlucky not to be in the next round but Neil [Warnock] probably thinks he's unlucky as well given our goalkeeper's save right at the end.
"I thought we got through the first half fairly comfortably. I think for 20 minutes midway through the second half, we had them on the ropes and we had good chances. We should have scored."