Charging Stags Return To Home Comforts To Face The Steadily Building Saddlers
With back-to-back 4-1 victories on the road, Mansfield Town will look to replicate their strong away form at home when they face Walsall at the One Call Stadium.
Ahead of a tough week for the Stags, they take on a steadily improving Saddlers side as the West Midlands side look to get their first win in three matches.
Mansfield Town, who are unbeaten in 18 games in all competitions, will look to get a third consecutive win and close in on the 20-game mark without a defeat.
Back-To-Back 4-1 Wins For The Stags
Mansfield Town’s game against Forest Green Rovers was the only fixture in EFL League Two to be postponed last weekend due to the floodings caused by Storm Babet.
The Stags’ next game was a midweek clash against Harrogate Town, a side the amber and blues have failed to beat in their previous six League Two attempts.
The clash in Yorkshire got off to a lively start as Lewis Brunt netted his first Stags goal as he fired home from close range following Aden Flint’s knockback from George Maris’ corner.
Nigel Clough’s side had a 3-0 lead heading into the break as Lucas Akins’ double had the game essentially wrapped up for the Stags.
Maris would make it 4-0 after he was picked out by Davis Keillor-Dunn inside the box to turn past Harrogate Town’s goalkeeper Mark Oxley.
Levi Sutton managed to get a goal back for the hosts following a deflection but it was too little too late to rescue the game as the Stags wrapped up a 4-1 win.
With 33 shots all game, the victory propelled Mansfield Town up to fourth, six points behind league leaders Stockport County with a game in hand.
Saddlers Continue To Steadily Pick Up Points
A stunning instalment of Friday Night Football In League Two saw Walsall play out a 3-3 draw with Newport County with a Freddie Draper hat-trick rescuing a point for the Saddlers.
In midweek, Mat Sadler’s side welcomed Crawley Town to the Poundland Bescot Stadium in a clash between two sides fighting for a spot in mid-table.
The game didn’t get up and running into the latter minutes of the second half as Danny Johnson fired Walsall into a 1-0 lead into the 88th minute.
However, Danilo Orsi scored an equaliser in the fourth minute of added time as Crawley snatched the win away from the Saddlers and saw the sides take a point each.
Walsall managed to move up the league with the point that they gained at home as they closed the gap down to five points between them and Gillingham in the final Play-Off place.
Form Guide
In the last five league matches, the Stags have started to get their winning mojo back as they have secured two consecutive wins after drawing their previous three games in EFL League Two.
Alongside back-to-back 4-1 wins for Mansfield Town, they have conceded only one goal in the three games proceeding the two victories, gaining two valuable clean sheets in the process.
With nine points from a possible 15, the amber and blues will be looking to get a third consecutive win and extend their unbeaten run to 19 games in all competitions.
Walsall, meanwhile, have picked up one win, three draws and one loss from their last five league outings.
The Saddlers have gone from the lows of losing 4-0 to Sutton United to the highs of beating Gillingham 4-1 at home.
Picking up six points from a possible 15, Mat Sadler’s side, with former Stags forward Danny Johnson spearheading the attack, will look to cause an upset and close the gap to the Play-Off places.
Head-To-Head
In nine League Two meetings between the two sides, Mansfield Town hold the upper hand with four wins compared to Walsall’s three with the remaining two games ending in 1-1 draws.
Only two clean sheets have been achieved by either side in these fixtures with each side taking a clean sheet each.
26 goals have been scored in the nine League Two matches, an average of close to three goals per game, and with three of the last five matches seeing three goals or more, this clash is set to be another tasty one between the unbeaten Stags and the steady Saddlers.
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