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A place in the Fourth Round of the FA Cup is at stake as Mansfield Town take on Championship side Middlesbrough.
The amber and blues look to continue with their fairytale cup run after slaying three sides above them in the footballing pyramid.
Nigel Clough’s side have turned their season around with a string of wins and now find themselves only 90 minutes away from reaching round four of the oldest cup competitions in the world.
The Stags have not made it past the Third Round in over 14 seasons, with their last appearance in the Fourth Round coming back in the 2007/08 season, the campaign they were relegated out of the Football League.
It will not be an easy task for Mansfield, as they face one of the Championship’s most in-form teams. Since the arrival of Chris Wilder as the new manager, Middlesbrough have only lost once in their last eight league fixtures and currently find themselves one point away from the play-off places.
As a second-tier outfit, the Boro enter the FA Cup at the Third Round stage so they will be looking to progress into the next round and not be eliminated at the first hurdle.
In past seasons, Middlesbrough have reached the Fourth Round six times in their last 10 appearances in the competitions. The Teeside outfit came close to lifting the FA Cup in the 1996/97 season but were defeated 2-0 by Chelsea in the final at old Wembley Stadium.
Heading into the encounter at the One Call Stadium, Mansfield have had two league matches postponed due to positive COVID-19 cases at the club.
The final game of 2020 saw the amber and blues take on Hartlepool United at home on Boxing Day. On a foggy afternoon in Nottinghamshire, Clough’s side started the game brightly and were not far away from scoring with Jordan Bowery’s effort cleared off the line.
However, against the run of play, it was the Pools who took the lead through Luke Molyneux. Matty Daly’s pull-back found the forward as he placed the ball into the bottom corner of Nathan Bishop’s goal.
Graeme Lee’s side doubled their advantage early in the second half. After utter chaos in Mansfield’s box, the ball was eventually cleared away but only as far as Nicky Featherstone who rifled the ball into the back of the net from outside the box.
The comeback from the resilient Stags started minutes later as John-Joe O’Toole’s header halved the deficit before a Jordan Bowery header levelled the scores at 2-2 just after the hour-mark.
In the 66th minute, George Maris completed the turnaround with a shot/cross that went through a sea of bodies and into the back of the net as Mansfield players celebrated with joy.
This jubilant occasion could have been cut short in the final minute of added time as Gavin Holohan scored from close range following a free-kick, however, the linesmen ruled him to be offside and the amber and blues emerged 3-2 victors.
Middlesbrough have also had games postponed due to positive COVID-19 cases in the camp but they played twice before the new year, winning both games against Nottingham Forest and Blackpool.
The encounter against the Seasiders was their final in 2021 and they ended the year in impressive fashion. Andraz Sporar gave the visiting Boro the lead on the hour-mark as Wilder’s side looked to continue their winning run of form.
Neil Critchley’s men did not back down and an added time equaliser from Shayne Lavery saw Middlesbrough on the verge of losing two valuable points.
Duncan Watmore had the last laugh however as his 93rd-minute winner earned the Boro another win and moved them to within a point of the play-off places.
Mansfield Town and Middlesbrough are no strangers to facing each other in the FA Cup. The first time they went head-to-head in the competition was back in the 1966/67 edition of the competition with the Stags emerging 2-0 victors at Field Mill.
The Boro got their revenge in January 2008, incidentally in the Fourth Round. At the time, Middlesbrough were in the Premier League and looked to brush League Two Mansfield Town aside.
After a corner was not dealt with, Lee Dong-gook opened the scoring for the visitors as he pounced on the opportunity to fire the ball in from close range.
In the dying embers of the match, Jake Buxton put the ball into the back of his own net which doubled Boro’s advantage and saw them progress into the Fifth Round of the FA Cup.
Clough and Wilder will be hoping to have their side’s to some sort of fitness after their respective COVID-19 outbreaks, however, they must make do with what they have got as a place in the next round of the oldest cup competition in the world is at stake.
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