Confident Stags Return To Home Comforts To Face No Easy Game Against Struggling Forest Green
Games continue to come thick and fast as another tricky opponent travels to the One Call Stadium as Mansfield Town welcome Forest Green Rovers to Nottinghamshire.
Brimming with confidence, Nigel Clough’s Stags now focus on a tough end to October as they face four games in the space of a week and a half which will once again test the resilience and the determination of the squad.
Forest Green, who finally found their winning touch last weekend as they hammered Colchester United, will be looking to make it back-to-back league wins for the first time this season after they were relegated from League One last term.
With both sides achieving large victories last Saturday, which side will be able to replicate that feat once again or will it be an interesting encounter that ends in a draw?
Unstoppable Stags On Fire In Nottinghamshire Derby
Coming into the Nottinghamshire Derby, Mansfield Town recorded three draws in a row and looked as if they were the underdogs heading into the clash even with their unbeaten record in all competitions.
Notts County, however, have not lost at home ahead of the clash and were at the top of the league as they looked for back-to-back promotions.
The Magpies got off to the perfect start as Dan Crowley opened the scoring inside the first five minutes but that was cancelled out as Louis Reed slotted the ball into the bottom corner in the 24th minute.
What followed in the second half was an impressive attacking display from the Stags as they took the game to County and raced clear of their local rivals.
Three goals in 11 minutes from Baily Cargill, Lucas Akins and Aden Flint saw the amber and blues run out 4-1 victors and gained the bragging rights in the Nottinghamshire Derby.
Moving up to third in the league, the Stags closed up to gap between them and Notts County down to one point as the two Nottinghamshire sides were first and second temporarily before Stockport County won their game and moved to the top of the league.
Rovers Hand Hammering And Get Back To Winnings Ways
Following their relegation back down to League Two last season, Forest Green have not had the best of starts to life back in the fourth tier as they only managed seven points from 12 games and sat joint-bottom.
In an early relegation six-pointer, Colchester United travelled to the Bolt New Lawn in search of their first win in three games.
It took until the 41st minute for the deadlock to be broken as Callum Morton fired the hosts into a 1-0 lead ahead of the break.
The task got even trickier for the U’s as Jay Mengi was sent off two minutes into the second half and Forest Green made the man advantage count.
Goals from Kyle McAllister and substitutes Matty Taylor and Matty Stevens sealed a phenomenal 5-0 win for the Rovers as they got their first win since their 1-0 victory over Sutton United at the start of September.
The result put the Rovers on 10 points from 13 games as they closed up the gap to the side they defeated and to Tranmere Rovers who sit in 21st.
Form Guide
Heading into this weekend’s clash, the unbeaten Stags, who sit third in League Two, have got back to winning ways after three successive league draws and boast a record of two wins and three draws from their last five League Two matches.
Scoring six goals, conceding two and keeping two clean sheets in those last five matches shows where Mansfield Town’s strengths lay as their defence has produced amazing figures and have conceded the least number of goals out of any League Two team so far this term with only 10 conceded.
On the other end of the scale, Forest Green Rovers are currently in the drop zone as they sit 23rd with only three wins after 13 games.
From their last five matches, they have only recorded one win and four losses. With 10 goals scored and conceded from those five matches, the Rovers are starting to click as a team and will start looking up the table sooner than they think.
Head-To-Head
In the all-time League Two head-to-head, the Stags and the Rovers have faced each other on 10 occasions with the two sides taking three wins each and four games ending in a draw.
With 26 goals scored in this fixture in the fourth tier, an average of just over 2.5 goals per game, this fixture could see an abundance of goals.
However, five of the 10 games have seen clean sheets achieved by either side and only four of the 10 matches have seen over three goals showing that a strong defence could be the key to a successful game this weekend.
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