Stevenage make the 240-mile round trip to Mansfield Town this weekend to face Nigel Clough’s Stags in a crucial Sky Bet League Two clash…
After picking up two home victories in the space of four days, Stevenage returned to the automatic promotion places and now sit four points clear of fourth place with a game in hand. Just four matches remain for Boro until the end of the season, starting with the trip to The One Call Stadium tomorrow.
Steve Evans revealed that sixteen-year-old Makise Evans is in contention to become Boro’s youngest ever senior player tomorrow as he travels with the first-team squad.
Mansfield Town sit eighth in the Sky Bet League Two table and are level on points with the play-off places. They have picked up nineteen wins, twelve draws and eleven losses in the league this season and will look for one final push in the race for promotion.
The Stags are currently on a run of eight games unbeaten, having not lost since the 14th of March. On Tuesday, the side travelled to South Wales and picked up a 2-1 win against Newport County through goals from Hiram Boateng and James Gale. Mansfield’s top scorer this season is Will Swan who has nine goals to his name.
Nigel Clough took over as Mansfield boss in November 2020, and last season took his side to a League Two play-off final. Clough previously had managerial spells at Burton Albion, Sheffield United and Derby County. As a player, he made over 400 appearances for Nottingham Forest under his legendary father Brian.
Boro have met the Stags on twenty occasions in the past, having won six, drawn four and lost ten of those meetings. The first ever encounter between the two clubs was in the 2008/09 Conference campaign as goals from Michael Bostwick, Steve Morison and Mitchell Cole earned Stevenage a 3-2 victory on Broadhall Way.
The first Football League meeting between the two sides wasn’t until 2014 as Charlie Lee’s goal, aswell as Chris Whelpdale’s brace, wrapped up a 3-0 home win. This season’s reverse fixture ended in a stalemate at The Lamex Stadium.
Mansfield Town have played their home games at One Call Stadium since 1919. It is the oldest ground in the football league, hosting football since 1861, and currently has a capacity of 9,186. A record attendance of 24,467 was set in 1953 as they welcomed Nottingham Forest.
James Linington has been appointed Match Referee for tomorrow’s match with Nigel Lugg and Andrew Aylott as Assistants, and Carl Boyeson as Fourth Official. Linington has dished out 110 yellow cards and four reds in twenty-eight matches this season.
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