Mansfield look to get back to winning ways when they face Walsall on Saturday

Mansfield Town travel to Walsall on Saturday in search of getting back to winning ways after losing at home on Tuesday night.

Both teams played on Tuesday night with Mansfield facing Salford at home, with the Sadlers travelling to Oldham.

Mansfield had a bright start to their fixture, but a lapse in concentration cost them dearly going two goals down after 65 minutes. A great solo effort from Jake Jervis and volley from Adam Rooney gave Salford a two-goal cushion. Nicky Maynard pulled one back, but it was too late for the Stags to rescue a point even after an absolute onslaught with ten minutes to go.

Oldham Athletic faced Walsall and beat them quite comfortably, goals from Scott Wilson and Desire Segbe Azankpo giving the Latics an advantage and with Mat Sadler sent off it, Oldham cruised for a 2-0 win.

Team news

It was revealed by assistant manager Lee Glover in Thursday morning’s news conference that midfielder Jacob Mellis could be in contention for the match after returning to training this week.

The game will come too soon for strikers Danny Rose, Craig Davies and Jordan Graham.

Wing-back Hayden White, although no longer suspended, will continue to be assessed in the days leading up to the fixture, having felt pain on the injury site of last season’s broken leg.

Walsall’s Mat Sadler will miss the game having been sent off in the 2-0 loss to Oldham on Tuesday night.

Caolan Lavery and Danny Guthrie are doubts for the Saddlers.

Walsall boss Darrell Clarke is expecting a stern test from Mansfield Town this weekend.

“We expect a stern test,” said Clarke. They played very well against Salford in mid-week. Had most of the territory, most of the possession but they were beaten, and that can happen in this league.

“If you look at most games and most teams, even the games we’ve played, they could have quite easily gone in our favour.  We have to turn it around as a group, that’s what you have to do.

“Slow building blocks and keep working away. You certainly want players to be finding their form because we have got good players at the football club that are not producing what they can do.”

After a recent increase in ‘performance levels,’ assistant manager Lee Glover has stressed the importance of ‘consistency’ if the Stags are to collect points in their upcoming matches.

“I’ve found that the league is very up and down,” he told iFollow Stags. “The teams at the top have shown quality and we believe we have people in the building that can do that.

“Early on in the season we haven’t been consistent enough, but I believe over the last five or six weeks, training and games have been better.

“We have shown consistency and looked how we want to look, and we need to maintain that.

“You’re searching for the consistency that you want to see, as you know it will get results. Recently we have shown more consistency, but early on in the season we didn’t know quite what we were going to get.

“Was that the hangover from the play-offs last year? I’m not sure. But I have seen a more positive impact on the group over the last five or six weeks.”

Head-to-head

In the last five encounters, Mansfield have won the game twice with Walsall winning this fixture three times.