Nigel Clough: Mansfield Town boss calls for greater 'flexibility' with substitutions

Mansfield Town are sixth in the League Two table

Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough says greater "flexibility" is needed with substitutions after first-half injuries at Bradford left them in difficulty.

Clough used his three opportunities to make in-game changes before the break, with Louis Reed, Rhys Oates and Callum Johnson all forced off hurt.

The only changes Clough could make after that were permitted at half-time, leaving him frustrated.

"There should be a little bit of protection," Clough said.

"If you can use the five substitutes, there just needs to be a little more flexibility."

Reed was lost to a knee injury early on, with Oates then forced off with a dislocated shoulder before Johnson suffered a groin injury. The trio are expected to be out for between four and six weeks.

With no window of opportunity to make changes after the break, Clough had to act early to replace Stephen Quinn and Kieran Wallace, who the Stags boss said were not likely to last another 45 minutes.

Despite the number of forced reshuffles, Mansfield fought back to rescue a point, with an injury-time goal from Alfie Kilgour earning them a 1-1 draw.

"That's why I thought it was so encouraging in the second half," Clough told BBC Radio Nottingham.

"With Quinny and Kieran Wallace, we had to make those changes really otherwise we'd have had no chance to make substitutions, so it would have been nine players going into the second half 1-0 down in front of 19,000 people."

'You could go down to nine through no fault of your own'

Clough said the situation the Stags found themselves in at Bradford highlighted the problem with the substitution rule.

"The rule is intended for the right reasons," Clough said. "You get five substitutions, but what they didn't want was five to happen in the final 10 minutes of a game so you could break up the game and make it stop, start.

"So they made it three occasions with half-time not counting, which is brilliant. But what if you have to use them in the first half? No-one is using substitutions in the first half to time waste - they are genuine substitutions or tactical.

"Therefore you should still be allowed to make substitutions in the second half - almost restart it again and have two in the second half if you have had to use two or three in the first half.

"You could lose two [players to injury] in the second half and go down to nine men out of no fault of your own. It's just genuinely something that can happen in football."