Mansfield Town look to make it three successive wins as they take on Macclesfield Town

Mansfield Town travel to Moss Rose to face Macclesfield Town in a Sky Bet League Two encounter which Mansfield hope to win to make it three wins out of three.

The Stags who are currently 14th in League Two, one place higher than Macclesfield, have won their last two matches that were played in the FA Cup and Leasing.com Trophy respectively.

They beat Chorley 1-0 in the FA Cup in a very tight encounter to progress to the second round of that cup competition and beat Burton Albion 2-1 midweek to progress to the next round of the other cup competition.

Macclesfield had a positive start to the campaign but in recent weeks, following off-field financial issues and unpaid wages taking the spotlight, their form has gone downhill.

Since then, almost four weeks later, they, like the Stags, remain on 20 points and are now seven adrift of the top seven and the same number clear of the drop zone.

Due to their current predicament, the Silkmen fielded a youthful side in their 4-0 first round FA Cup tie defeat to seventh tier side Kingstonian last weekend.

Team news

Mansfield are likely to have an almost fully fit squad for the clash with captain Krystian Pearce back in contention having returned to training this week following a groin injury.

The game will, however, likely come too soon for wing-back Hayden White.

The situation at Moss Rose is uncertain with the Macclesfield first team players refusing to play if they are not paid their wages which may see the Silkmen put out a youth side against Mansfield Town.

Assistant manager Lee Glover says there is plenty of ‘positive energy’ within the Stags’ camp after the amber and blue progressed to the next stages of the FA Cup and Leasing.com Trophy this week.

“We were very happy to progress in both competitions [Emirates FA Cup and Leasing.com Trophy],” he told iFollow Stags. “It was always going to be a difficult game [against Chorley].

“The non-league sides now, a lot of them are full-time. It was a difficult game and I thought the lads applied themselves really well.

“We didn’t get an early goal, but we stuck at it, got the win and got in the hat for the next round, which is very important.”

After a tough defeat in the FA Cup last Saturday, Macclesfield manager Daryl McMahon spoke to the media on his thoughts of the tough defeat at the hands of Kingstonian.

“They learned a lot; they’ve been in the first-team environment and played in front of a crowd. Playing in the FA Cup first-round as a 16-year-old a lot of dreams have come true.

“It’s a tough game playing against experienced players and they played well for the whole 90 minutes.”

Head-to-head

In the last five fixtures between the two sides, Mansfield have won twice with two games ending in a draw and with one going in Macclesfield’s favour. If Macclesfield do not field a senior team they may have problems of getting a result against the mighty Stags.